Holiday concert benefits mental health facility

The "Holiday Constellation Concert" to benefit the Ecker Center for Mental Health will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17 at the Elgin High School, 1200 Maroon Drive. It will feature the symphonic band, chamber orchestra, jazz band, brass ensemble, chamber choir, string quartet, Renaissance Singers and Elgin Jazz Authority.

Tickets are $10 or $8 for students. To purchase tickets, call (847) 888-5100, ext. 5103. Tickets also will be sold at the concert.

Ecker Center is the local nonprofit community mental health center serving adults and youth for the last 54 years. The center provides psychiatry, nursing, case management, recovery, crisis and residential services for people with moderate to severe mental illnesses. Fees are based upon the client's ability to pay. The current crisis in state funding is forcing the center to seek more local funding to ensure that services can be provided to those in need. Eighty percent of clients have incomes at poverty level or below. Earlier this year, the state of Illinois cut the funding by 43 percent. That funding has been restored but the state owes $700,000 in back payments for services they have provided, which makes it very hard to continue to operate without extra help from the local community.