January 2012

Monthly Family Communication

Helping Hand Center in the News & Community Outreach

Helping Hand Center Tours

If you know someone who should see all the great things going on at Helping Hand Center, please let them know that we are available to give tours any time. Tours are a great way to get people more involved. We love to show off all our great work. Just let us know and we will schedule a tour.

Healthy Mom Healthy Family Conference

Helping Hand Center is collaborating with the Center for Independence to offer a one-day conference for moms of children with disabilities and special needs on Sunday, April 22nd. Please see the following link for additional information:

Healthy Mom, Healthy Family Conference

The Fenwick High School hockey team supported Helping Hand Center by collecting donations at the door of their game on January 13th. This story was picked up recently in My Suburban Life:
Fenwick Friars Lend a Helping Hand

Recently the employees of the Walgreens distribution center in Berkley made a very generous donation to Helping Hand Center, which was matched by the Walgreens Corporation. See the attached news article about this wonderful donation:
Walgreens Lends Helping Hand to Helping Hand Center

Helping Hand Center is in the following article from both the Burr Ridge and LaGrange Patch talking about our High School Transition program:

LT Transition Program Teaches Business Basics

Helping Hand Center Program Updates

Helping Hand Center Staff

All of our staff here at Helping Hand Center are outstanding and we greatly appreciate everything they do every day. Recently, we have had some staff moves and other staff happenings:

Robyn Frendling is now a Board Certified Associate Behavioral Analyst working with our adult clients.
Kim Peyton-Reyes is a new Developmental Training Supervisor working with our adult clients.
Karen Wiemeyer passed her licensing exam for psychology and is now a licensed psychologist.

Special Recreation

In March we will be starting a Special Olympics program for children in our programs ages 13-19. If you are interested please contact Joe Hart at (708)352-3580 x249 or joe.hart@hhcenter.org.

Adult Services

The day program has added a new "track" to its already comprehensive program day: Retirement! Adult clients in this track will participate in "Bingo" in recreation, "Oldies but Goodies" in the music program, walking for fitness, and "tea time" in the library where they drink coffee and read the paper/magazines. We are also adding an Adaptive Equipment "track." All the programs in this track will utilize adaptive equipment to assist in independent participation in cooking, music, computers, recreation, and fitness. Even more specialized programs will also be offered!

Joyous Holiday Celebrations

Helping Hand Center was very busy with the holidays. At the annual Holiday Program, family and friends were treated to live performances from the clients, followed by a wonderful lunch for all. It was a great way to kick off the holiday season. We have a number of talented performers at Helping Hand Center! And the staff did a fantastic job "behind the scenes," making sure it was a great day for everyone!

The Helping Hand Center Family Association hosted its own wonderful Holiday luncheon recently. It was a great combination of elegance and fun! A full orchestra performed beautiful holiday music while families, friends, and clients reconnected. All was followed by energetic DJ music and dancing. Yet another wonderful holiday celebration; we cannot thank the Family Association enough for all their hard work in making this a joyous occasion for all!

Volunteer News

There is always a great deal going on at Helping Hand Center! Here are just a few recent events in which volunteers helped out a great deal!

Residential Project
With 11 residential homes throughout the community, Helping Hand Center benefits greatly from volunteers and financial resources to support the high quality and maintenance of our homes. Recent volunteers from St. John of the Cross Parish completed a tremendous effort to upgrade one of our homes. These volunteers spent over 300 hours in 3 weeks to make a house into a home. They cleaned the house, painted all of the rooms, replaced the appliances, fixed the floors, added new doors, replaced screens, and more. In addition, community members contributed linens, dishes, furniture, a television, and appliances. St. John of the Cross provided the funds to pay for new shutters, window treatments, paint and supplies. The volunteers included high school and college students and adults.

Adult Services Holiday Party Volunteers
Approximately 20 volunteers helped us make our holiday program and luncheon a huge success! Over 400 people enjoyed a wonderful client program and a hearty lunch.

Children Services Holiday Party
Again, a large group of community and staff volunteers, including local schools and Boy Scouts, helped make this a fun evening for hundreds of children and their families. A special thank you to the Knights of Columbus for their generous donations of gifts and time.

In addition to our events, many volunteers gave their time to help us with these projects:

Support in the Adult Services Day Program (art and recreation)
Organizing the Children Services Library
Cleaning projects at Countryside including the School recreation rooms
And we can’t forget the many hours at the Thrift Shop! We can’t run the store without your help.

A very humble and sincere thanks to all of our volunteers!

Family Association Membership

Speaking of the Family Association - why don't you join! It is a great way to support Helping Hand Center and our clients. Annual membership starts or renews in January. Please contact us at Helping Hand Center if you have any questions.

Donations and Grants

Everyday, we receive donations to our organization. Thank you to all who give to Helping Hand Center - the support is wonderful and very much needed as we continue our quality programs and services! The following organizations and individuals recently provided donations to Helping Hand Center:

Events

Pasta Supper

The Helping Hand Center Family Association is hosting its annual Pasta Supper on Friday, February 10th at 6:30pm in the Wellness Center in Countryside. There will be food, music and socializing! Please contact Helping Hand Center if you are interested in attending.

2012 Helping Hand Center Gala & Auction

Mark your calendars for March 10, 2012 for Helping Hand Center’s

13th Annual Gala & Auction at the Burr Ridge Marriott.

The Gala and Auction is our largest fundraising event of the year! All of the proceeds go to the Helping Hand Center operational budget, which supports all agency programs and services. Look for your invitation in the mail! Reservations can also be made online at www.hhcenter.org. Look for the Gala tab. The event will include cocktails, dinner, Silent Auction, Live Auction, “Invest in the Mission,” a Grand Raffle Drawing, Client Achievement Awards, live entertainment, and much more.

Mary Beth Hepp
Helping Hand Center Executive Director