Tonight we had a great turnout at the Cross County Mall! Huge thank you to Amanda Perdomo and Don Sol for their donation of delicious appetizers and snacks!
Our first presentation was from Central East Alcoholism and Drug (CEAD) Council, who has a mission to provide a comprehensive array of services for behavioral health promotion and substance abuse prevention, intervention and treatment to the citizens of Illinois. They have two recovery homes in Charleston housing ten to fifteen recovering families and funds were requested to help purchase materials such as sheets, towels and consumables for these families as they reestablish their lives together.
Second up was SACIS, Sexual Assault Counseling & Information Service. They provide counseling, advocacy and prevention programs, serving nine counties. They often have funding to cover counseling and advocacy and were seeking funds for prevention programs in K-12 schools within Coles County this evening.
Last, we heard from Detective West and Officer Wilson representing the Charleston and Mattoon police departments for the Cops for Kids (Mattoon) and Shop with a Cop (Charleston) programs. Each year they serve around 160 children between both programs, depending on funding, taking the kids to Wal-Mart to shop for needs and wants at the holidays.
The votes were really close; each cause provides so much for our community. SACIS won the votes tonight! If you missed the meeting, you will be receiving an email with directions on where to send your check.
If you are interested in helping the other programs, you can reach out to:
- CEAD: Sara Harwood at (217) 348-8108
- Shop with a cop (Charleston): “Charleston FOP”, PO Box 475, Charleston, IL 61920 or stop by at 614 6th St in Charleston
- Cops for Kids (Mattoon): “Mattoon Police Department (Cops for Kids)”, 1710 Wabash Ave., Mattoon, Illinois 61938
Our last order of business is to draw members for charity presentations next quarter. They are:
- Tammy Zuber’s group
- Kelsey Swing
- Kathy Black