By Ryan Ostry
Bugle Staff
@RyanOstry_BR18
rostry@buglenewspapers.com
Last Thursday night at the Children’s Advocacy Center in downtown Joliet, the Crest Hill Lions Club presented the CAC with more than 120 fleece tie blankets that will be used to comfort children who have been affected by sexual and extreme physical abuse.
“We are all about helping the community out and try and stay local in all of Will County,” said Jason Donisch, President of Crest Hill Lions. “I think the kids will be happy with the blankets, and we really hope that this brings a big smile on their faces.”
The Club received the idea after seeing several social media posts requesting the blankets to be donated go give to the children in need by the Advocacy Center.
While the Crest Hill Lions organized, funded and made blankets themselves, the project was not possible without community support.
From the employees at the Joliet JoAnn Fabric store spending four hours cutting bolts of fleece to size, to the Creative Friends of Carillon Lakes, the Senior Student Council at Joliet Catholic Academy, members of Crossroads Christian Church in Joliet and Girl Scout Troops 71045 and 75227 in Plainfield to friends and family of Lion members, there were several people other than members who cut and tied the blankets.
“We thought this would be a great opportunity to give young children a sense of comfort and safety. It really meant a lot that we were able to provide that feeling to children who need it most,” said Madie Buss, JCA Senior Student Council President. “It was a pleasure making these blankets, and we are glad we were able to help such an amazing organization. As the senior class, we felt this would set an example of giving for the underclassmen to follow.”
John Dean, a 43-year member of the Crest Hill Lions, spoke about the Club’s participation in the effort.
“It’s one of the best projects we’ve had that I’ve seen here,” Dean said. “It’s going to help a lot of people and a lot of kids which is fantastic, I’m very happy about it.”
The CAC was established in 1995 by Will County State’s Attorney James W. Glasgow as a 501(c)3 charitable organization in order to improve the integrity of all investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse.
“Thank you to the Crest Hill Lions Club for this tremendous donation of more than 120 homemade fleece tie blankets that will provide comfort to the sexually abused children who come to the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center to find hope, healing and justice,” Glasgow said. “What makes this donation even more important is that the Lions engaged community organizations to craft these blankets. Their involvement expands awareness of the services provided by the center and provides additional warmth for the children who will be wrapped in these blankets.”
The donation was presented to Forensic Interviewer Jackie Lundquist, a 15-year employee of the CAC, where she has done approximately 3,000 interviewers.
She said the feeling of gratification of helping kids is what keeps driving her to do her job and help the children and families.
“The kids go from the family room to the interview room and they’re petrified, but as soon as you talk to them and ease their mind about reporting and telling your story you see them relax and open up to you,” Lundquist said. “I love giving them that opportunity because they are all miraculous people, I’ve loved it since day one and I still love it today.”
Lundquist added that sexual abuse is a taboo subject matter, but they are creating awareness and for kids to be able to talk about their story is one step in the right direction to ultimately help end this atrocity.
Lions Club International is the largest service organization in the world, with more than 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members, and the Crest Hill Club is in its 56th year serving the community.
“Besides this, we do hearing and eye exams for low income individuals including both kids and adults who live in Crest Hill,” Donisch said. “We try to be involved in the community and in Crest Hill as much as we can, but this is one of those things where we are trying to branch out to everyone.”