United Way honors 'bold' women

It started with a Lake Forest church women's prayer group trying to help a young girl get off the streets and escape a life of crime.

That became retired social worker Barbara Monsor's inspiration to start the Mothers Trust Foundation, an organization that in 10 years has given out more than $800,000 to help 8,000 needy children in Lake County.

Monsor, of Lake Forest, is among four women chosen to receive the United Way of Lake County's inaugural "Be Bold" award for their efforts helping women and children in the county.

Other award recipients are: Valerie Boettle Ceckowski of Gurnee, juvenile circuit court judge of Lake County's 19th Judicial Circuit Court; Mary Lockhart White of Waukegan, executive director of Lake County Community Action Project Head Start; and Julia McEvoy, Chicago Public Radio's senior editor for education and urban affairs.

The awards will be presented today at United Way's Women's Leadership Council annual meeting at The Tavern in Libertyville.

"It's a great honor, and I am very privileged to being recognized in a county full of generous volunteers," said Monsor, executive director of Mothers Trust Foundation. "For practically any need, there is some sort of organization that has been founded out of somebody's impulse.

Monsor's agency has paid for clothing, vocational education equipment, sports programs and tattoo removal and has helped young girls with pregnancy needs and kids in homeless shelters.

"We hope to motivate other women to be bold and become actively engaged in efforts that provide women and children of Lake County opportunities to succeed," said United Way Women's Leadership Council Chair Glenda Abbott.

Ceckowski, a former juvenile court judge for four years, earned the award for helping develop programs for children leaving the juvenile justice system.

She has been involved in statewide initiatives to find permanent homes for children who have been removed from their parents' care due to either abuse or neglect.

"It was a surprise to me," she said. "It's quite a privilege."