Festival of Trees a great success

On behalf of the clients served by the Ecker Center for Mental Health, I would like to thank everyone who made the 11th annual Festival of Trees event at the Centre of Elgin Nov. 12 such a great success. The event earned $57,000.

That revenue will be used to subsidize our psychiatry, case management, rehabilitation, therapy and crisis services for poor people with mental illnesses. For example, a follow-up psychiatrist visit for one client costs just $50.

Thank you to our all-volunteer committee who worked tirelessly for months to make the event possible. Thank you to all the sponsors; we could not have a successful event without you. To our volunteer decorators whose creative passion brought holiday happiness to the approximately 42,000 visitors to the Gail Borden Library, who viewed the trees on display before the event, we can’t thank you enough.

Thank you to Tom Berna of Berna Moving & Storage who volunteered to move the trees to the Centre from the library and then after the event to the tree auction winners’ homes. Thank you to the community members who attended the celebration event and bid on the trees. Without all of your generosity and commitment to our organization, we could not continue to be effective and serve people with mental illness in the northern two-thirds of Kane County, Barrington and Hanover townships.

Ecker Center has been our area’s only comprehensive community mental health resource since 1955. If you would like further information, to volunteer or to make a donation, visit eckercenter.org.

Karen Beyer

Executive Director

Ecker Center for Mental Health

Elgin