A six-figure donation the Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society received in June had its origins in a mystery that originated 30 years ago.
“It’s incredible,” said John McIlwain, executive director of the society. “It was a little bit of a journey.”
The donation, of $150,000, came from the estate of Bernice Feder Chadwick, who had been a longtime supporter of the children’s health clinic at 28 Madison. She died in 1995.
So, when her grandson approached the child healthcare nonprofit about the donation, McIlwain said he wasn’t even sure if his was the right nonprofit group. She obviously hadn’t been active with the group in decades — if she even ever had been.
The director explained that her grandson, the estate executor, had been directed to give the donation to a charity in Baltimore that no longer exists. With them out of the picture, McIlwain said the estate turned to the Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society.
“Her grandson knew (she was involved), but couldn’t find proof of it,” McIlwain said. “So he called me and asked if I had any record of that, I said ‘no, but I have lots of members here who might remember her.’ But we couldn’t find any members who remembered her.”
McIlwain didn’t want to simply take the money. He explained there’s the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago — an unrelated group. So, he wanted to make sure he wasn’t taking a donation meant for them.
“A lot of people confuse us,” he said.
But after considerable investigation, McIlwain’s staff eventually found proof of her involvement.
“One of my team members found an obituary for her and it had clear reference to the Oak Park Infant Welfare Society,” he said.
The donation in June came at a crucial time for the Infant Welfare Society, too. Every year the medical charity, which sees about 3,000 children a year, offers backpacks packed with school supplies to area children. However, this year the charity didn’t get a grant usually devoted to that effort, so this year the new donation will cover that, as well as medical services and some office upgrades.
“We’re going to use the funds to replace an outdated TV with a smart TV and the other piece is our giving library,” said McIlwain. “We get kids coming in all the time taking out one, two or three books, and we just can’t get enough books. … And we will use some of that to offset the cost of some of our behavioral health services.”
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In addition to providing usual medical care, the clinic also provides behavioral health services and dental services for children. The goal is to be a local one-stop shop of medical resources for kids of families in need. The behavioral health services are particularly important because they are generally harder to come by.
“As you can imagine, behavioral health services have a long wait time,” McIlwain said. “Kids have post-traumatic stress from this or that and then they have to call another organization and wait five months to see them, that’s not helpful.”
His goal is to get someone at their clinic once a week for a day of therapy. In McIlwain’s vision, the clinic should be a one-stop shop and the donation could make that more of a reality. Local services, he said, make the difference between whether or not kids can get treatment sometimes.
“They’re so crucial,” he said. “We’re able to meet kids where they are.”
One area mother, who asked to remain anonymous for medical privacy, said she’s been taking her son to their clinic for years. She started there when he was a year old and, now 13, he’s still going to get general medical care as well as dental care. She said she appreciates the location.
“They were close, they were a children’s clinic,” she said. “It was very attractive, the atmosphere, the colors, it was just child friendly and that’s what set them apart. It’s just warm and inviting, which I really like. It’s soothing, in a way.”
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.