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90_HR0262
LRB9007555KBkb
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives wish to congratulate Aunt Martha's on
4 twenty-five years of service to the Village of Park Forest,
5 Illinois and the metropolitan Chicago area; and
6 WHEREAS, In 1968, the Trustees of the Village of Park
7 Forest, Illinois added a Youth Commission to the
8 administrative structure of the Village; the Commission
9 consisted of seven parents and seven youth, with a
10 professional social worker, that worked together, detailing a
11 plan for the community and its youth; in 1971, the Youth
12 Commission began the creation of Aunt Martha's Service
13 Center, Inc.; and
14 WHEREAS, At one time young people could simply walk to a
15 nearby relative's home to talk; as the times changed, so did
16 the availability of easy access to a close relative; the
17 Commission decided that the youth of the Village needed an
18 Aunt Martha to visit; though a fictional character, the name
19 of Aunt Martha created an atmosphere where youth could feel
20 compassion and caring, like they would find in the home of a
21 relative; after a year of preparation and planning, Aunt
22 Martha's was incorporated as a non-profit entity in 1972; the
23 agency began in the basement of a local church, serving as a
24 place of refuge for runaways and homeless youth; by 1975 the
25 agency had expanded into a full service center, with a
26 professional staff, a network of foster homes, counseling for
27 abused, neglected, delinquent, and addicted youth, health
28 services, employment services, and educational services for
29 high school drop-outs; and
30 WHEREAS, Aunt Martha's continued to expand after 1975;
31 today it is a regional agency in seven counties in the
32 Chicagoland area; a staff of over 600 employees and 350
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1 community volunteers provide more than 80 support services at
2 34 different sites; areas serviced include the counties of
3 Cook, Aurora, Grundy, Iroquois, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall,
4 Elgin, and Will; support services include 24-hour crisis
5 intervention, family preservation programs, counseling
6 services, residential homes, substance prevention and
7 treatment facilities, health clinics, and employment,
8 educational, and vocational training; in 1996 nearly 12,000
9 young people and their families were aided by Aunt Martha's;
10 and
11 WHEREAS, Aunt Martha's has continued its commitment to
12 youth; recent additions include a pediatric health clinic in
13 Chicago Heights, a Healthy Kids clinic in Aurora, a minority
14 youth mentoring program in Ford Heights, an alternative high
15 school in Chicago, a community re-integration project for
16 juvenile parolees in Kankakee, and an after school tutoring
17 program serving children in Riverdale and Dolton; Aunt
18 Martha's recently received a financial award for its Family
19 Planning Clinic from the National Organization on Adolescent
20 Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention, Inc.; in 1996, Aunt
21 Martha's received an Outstanding Agency Award from the Cook
22 County Juvenile Probation Office for its exceptional
23 outreach, commitment, and service to the children of the
24 Circuit Court of Cook County; therefore, be it
25 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
26 NINETIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
27 congratulate and thank Aunt Martha's for twenty-five years of
28 dedicated service to the youth of Illinois; and be it further
29 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
30 presented to a representative of Aunt Martha's, along with
31 our congratulations.