hephzibah annual report children’s association 2014-2015 “Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, Dear Friend of Hephzibah, the doers, the THIRTY-THREE YEARS AGO, OUR FIRST FOSTER FAMILY WAS technology pros who spent every Saturday successful people FORGED THROUGH A SINGULAR ACT OF KINDNESS. morning schooling them in the ways of 3,754 with their heads in the A local mom had died, leaving behind four grieving adopted the digital world to the celebrity chef who children. After the orphaned youngsters had been safely settled in four donated a summer of fun in the form of Number of volunteer clouds and their feet different emergency foster homes, we began to search for permanent camp scholarships. hours logged by our caring on the ground. placements. But these were just a few of the acts of community of friends and During our search, we shared the children’s story with Oak Parkers kindness that brightened our fiscal year. supporters Let their dennis and Bunny Murphy, who had already adopted three children To help the children in our group through another agency. homes lead safer, healthier and happier lives, West suburban Medical center spirit ignite Although Peter, John, Marita and Anne Marie were not related by conducted a healthy living Program at Hephzibah, with sessions devoted to blood, the Murphys felt that the siblings should be placed in the same topics such as Your Body and Exercise and Healthy Eating. home since they’d been living together before the death of their mom. In May, loyola University’s ronald Mcdonald children’s hospital a fire within When we worried out loud that it would be difficult to find a family to dispatched its pediatric mobile health care unit to Hephzibah Home. When you to leave this raise all four children, Dennis said quietly, “We will do it.” the 40-foot-long “children’s clinic on wheels” rolled into our driveway, the world better than That simple declaration changed the lives of four very vulnerable children in our Foster care Program clambered aboard for physical exams, youngsters—youngsters who thrived in the Murphys’ care and immunizations, health screenings, asthma checks and more. when you found it. eventually matured into four productive, positive and utterly charming During the growing season, our alex anderson Memorial Garden adults. Peter is now a child care worker helping other children in need at continued to serve as a healing natural oasis for the traumatized children in — WILFERD A. PETERSON Hephzibah Home, and the children adore him. John is a firefighter and a our care, thanks to the green thumbs and funds provided by the family of Author, The Art of Living family man. Marita is a happily married mother of two, while Anne Marie Alex Anderson and family friend Patti Spangler. is a college student and a Hephzibah Day Care mom. You’ll learn more Throughout the year, our committed and compassionate corps of about their journey on page five of this report. corporate and community partners continued to give unstintingly to enhance The story of the Murphy family the health, happiness and well-being of the children in our group homes, seems like a fitting place to begin as we foster homes and Day Care Program. reflect on the many acts of kindness that the avis Budget Group volunteered at our annual Day Care pancake have helped Hephzibah’s children and 55 breakfast fundraiser and treated the children in our group homes to a families thrive in FY15. Number of neglected private movie screening at the Lake Theater, while employees participating You’ll read about some of these and abused children who in the cMe Group amicus Volunteer Program cruised Chicago’s waterways selfless acts in the pages that follow— found a safe haven and with the children on a Wendella boat tour and accompanied them on other from the high school students who a place to heal in our recreational outings in the Chicago area. spent countless hours mentoring the diagnostic treatment center On Giving Tuesday in December, Gene & Georgetti restaurant donated children in our group homes and the and residence $8,000 to Hephzibah from their November dessert sales, donations from 2 | Hephzibah Children’s Association 66 Number of community and corporate partners that enhanced the lives of Hephzibah’s children with vital support and services acts of kindness. In December, our first-ever challenge grant donors offered to match every donation to our hephzibah holiday challenge dollar for dollar up to $15,000. Their extraordinary generosity inspired nearly 300 other people to give, generating more than $126,000 and, in the process, changing many lives for the better. After we launched our new Planned Gift Programs in January, Hephzibah board member Francesca deBiase and her husband, Jassem el Mahmoud, marked the occasion with a generous bequest to the Hephzibah Children’s Trust. These acts of kindness, big and small, had a ripple effect. After witnessing the altruistic endeavors of a caring community, a young artist in our residence held an art show to benefit the Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry. When this young survivor of abuse learned that the proceeds from the sale of his paintings would feed 10 families, his jaw dropped—and he has already started to create a new body of work for his next art benefit. In Summer 2015, a compassionate group of hephzibah day care kids a forever family forged generous guests and a matching gift from the durpetti Foundation. formed a Hephzibah chapter of the GenerationOn Kids Club, a global through hephzibah foster Mcdonald’s corporation signed on as a $20,000 sponsor for the youth service movement that inspires young people to work together to care: Executive Director Mary Heart of Gold Ball and sent a crew of employees to northern Illinois to help others in their communities and around the world. The children sold Anne Brown (third row center) flip burgers at our annual sibling camp cookout. lemonade to raise money for Hephzibah and the Animal Care League; with foster parents dennis Back in Oak Park, a gregarious group of employees from Philips carefully crafted crate blankets, toys and “Adopt Me” bandannas for the and Bunny Murphy (second lighting fired up the grills and cooked up platters of hot dogs and homeless animals at the Animal Care League shelter; helped preschoolers row center), and the Murphy’s eight adopted children, their hamburgers to fuel the cowgirls and cowboys at our annual Rodeo. with special needs; and volunteered at a food pantry. children’s spouses and their The Peninsula chicago hotel donated more than $16,000 in As times get tougher, these acts of kindness make a bigger difference grandchildren revenues from its rooftop ice skating rink, hosted a skating party for the in the world. Thank you all for helping us build a better future for the children in our group homes and dispatched a costumed employee in a children we serve! Mini Cooper decked out with bunny ears on Easter and a giant spider on Halloween to pass out candy and toy bears at Hephzibah Home. Because nothing soothes the spirit like the sound of music, the oak Park arts council sponsored a series of concerts for the children in our Diagnostic Treatment Center. Mary Anne Brown Eric Sorensen Meanwhile, our individual benefactors were engaging in their own Executive Director Board President 2015 Annual Report | 3 TECHIES in Training Guided by some good-hearted technology pros, hephzibah’s kids are going digital ost post-millennial kids are “digital natives” who have Mgrown up with computers, DAY care digital music players, video games and other tools and toys of the digital age. A Super-Sized But many of the survivors of neglect and abuse at Hephzibah Home Helping of FUN have had little or no exposure to the digital world—and lag far behind their ur Day Care kids got peers in technology skills. an extra helping of fun in With the help of a kind-hearted Summer 2015 with the launch cadre of volunteer Technology Mentors, oof 25 new super-sized Playshops. Hephzibah’s kids are finally crossing These beefed-up, two-week summer that digital divide. Guided by their camp workshops offered something very own “geek squad” of technology for everyone in our diverse camp professionals, they’ve learned population, from knitting, puppet- the basics of safe web browsing, Diagnostic treatment center and residence making and theater arts to adventures created PowerPoint presentations, in engineering and extreme sports. disassembled a computer to learn Abused Dogs Helping Abused Kids Budding comics honed their stand-up about its components and even done skills during an improv workshop, young some rudimentary coding. fashionistas sketched and stitched up What’s next for our young techies ne of the most heartwarming stories of the year is the story of Paws for clothing designs at the Hephzibah House in training? Brian Druley and Sue Stark, strength, a new pet therapy program made possible by a partnership between Hephzibah of Style and aspiring chefs engaged in the visionary volunteer founders of and the Bryan and amanda Bickell Foundation. Paws for Strength pairs rescued and hands-on kitchen sessions, while the hephzibah’s technology Program, are rehabilitated therapy dogs with the abused children in our group homes to create a healing earnest souls in the Hephzibah chapter already hatching a plan to wow O of the GenerationOn Kids Club dreamed human-animal bond. the kids with a course During the eight-week program, the children teach their canine companions tricks and then up ways to make the world a better in robotics.