2013 Raffle Donation Presentations
Every year, our club selects one local agency to receive a $10,000 donation. At the Jan. 28 meeting, the three finalist agencies gave presentations about their services and explained what our donation would be used for. Each member of the Rotary Club of Joliet is invited to vote for one agency to receive the funding. (Click here to download the ballot.) The voting will close on Tues. Feb. 12. Please email your choice to Dan Mihelich, raffle committee chairman, at dan.mihelich@firstmidwest.com.
The three finalists are Crisis Line of Will County, Lamb’s Fold Center for Women and Children in Joliet, and United Cerebral Palsy of Illinois Prairieland
Crisis Line of Will County is a 24-hour, seven days a week service that has operated 36 years. The primary services of the agency are information and referral, telephone counseling, reassurance calls, suicide/emergency services (which include answering calls for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline), suicide prevention workshops, and latchkey children programs. The funding would be used to promote the agency’s new on-line social service directory which provides access to Google maps and a language translation service, create new brochures, purchase a color copier, and purchase event and expo equipment to participate in various community events. The Rotary Club emblem and the Rotary Club of Joliet will be listed on every piece of collateral distributed in the community.
Lamb’s Fold Center for Women and Children operates out of 81 Ottawa Street. While the women and children have been moved into individual residences, this building houses the center’s main office as well as supplies, a food pantry and a clothing closet. Lamb’s Fold assists more than 4,000 women each year become self supporting. The program lasts two years and has a 77 percent success rate. Women who complete the program are able to live and work in the community. The funding would be used to replace the heating and air conditioning system which is more than 80 years old. The Rotary Club of Joliet would be acknowledged on the agency’s website and printed materials.
United Cerebral Palsy Illinois Prairieland has an office at 311 South Reed Street in Joliet. The agency serves individuals with severe, multiple disabilities including mental retardation, epilepsy, autism and other developmental disabilities. UCP provides its services in a seven county area including Will, Kankakee, Grundy, Kendall, LaSalle, Ford, and Iroqouis. The funding would be used to purchase two pieces of equipment to compliment the playground located behind the office -- a roller slide, a double-wide, frictionless slide, and a sway fun, a wheelchair accessible ride that rocks back and forth. The Rotary name would appear on each piece of equipment.