Wheaton agency will still serve families in the wake of building fire
A devastating fire in the longtime offices of a Wheaton social services agency had not yet been extinguished Saturday night when the group began receiving an outpouring of support.
Bystanders and benefactors who gathered at the scene offered their sympathy and help to employees of the Evangelical Child and Family Agency as the fire damaged their north Main Street headquarters of nearly 40 years.
That support is sustaining agency leaders who pledge to continue serving client families in the wake of the blaze.
"We are a faith-based agency. We really depend on the Lord and his provisions for us, and we are just so supported," Executive Director Ken Withrow said. "We want to express our thanks to all those who are getting behind us and supporting us through this time. We just have the faith to believe in the end it's going to be OK, things are going to work out for us and our clients."
Withrow and his staff held an emergency meeting Tuesday morning in the Lombard Gospel Chapel, one of the congregations that's offered space for the immediate future. The group's board of directors also was set to meet in the church Tuesday night.
Withrow said the hope is to take a two-phased approach to a search for workspaces for the 25 employees who were based in the one-story office building on the 1500 block of North Main Street. The agency may spread employees to more than one temporary location in DuPage County and then bring all the staff together in the next month or two in interim offices in the Wheaton area, Withrow said.
Businesses also have offered office furniture and supplies to the group that was founded in 1950 in Chicago.
"Although this is certainly a hardship, it's not going to be something that completely discourages us," Withrow said. "We should and can move forward."
The agency plans to move forward with an annual fundraiser: the "Golf Classic Scramble" at St. Andrew's Golf and Country Club near West Chicago on June 19. The group does not currently have a fundraiser specifically set up to help recover from the fire, but is pointing donors to a giving page on its website.
Withrow said the agency relies on charitable contributions for most of its services. State funding supports "intact family services," a program that provides counseling and other means of supports to families referred to the agency by the Department of Children and Family Services. The agency also helps pregnant mothers and families seeking to adopt children.
"There really isn't any disruption for our services with our current clients," Withrow said. "There may be a delay before we can take on any more clients."
The fire broke out shortly before 8 p.m. when the building was unoccupied. Withrow said he's relieved no one was hurt in the blaze. It's too early to tell what sparked it, but firefighters have ruled out any suspicious causes, Withrow and Wheaton Fire Chief Bill Schultz said. Damage estimates were not immediately available.
The department will work with insurance inspectors to determine a cause, Schultz said. Insurance inspectors will decide whether the building can be restored or needs to be torn down and rebuilt.
Withrow rushed to the offices after he got a phone from an employee, whose son lives nearby and alerted his mom to the fire.
"It was a tragic event, but we have the faith to believe that we're going to overcome it," Withrow said.