Thanks to donations, Ecker Center women's home staying open
A home for mentally ill women in Elgin secured two more months of life after the community responded to its financial plight and now hopes to stay open long-term.
The group home run by Ecker Center for Mental Health was in danger of closing this month but will remain open until at least May thanks to $39,200 in contributions, which exceeded the goal of $30,000, Executive Director Karen Beyer said. The Daily Herald, followed by other media, covered the story in January as the agency rallied its supporters for help.
"This is a wonderful, wonderful thing," Beyer said. "We never, when we started this campaign, expected to exceed $30,000. We're thrilled. We are so touched by the generosity of our local community."
Like many other nonprofits, the agency is in dire straits because of the state's budget impasse and lack of payments. It costs about $10,000 per month to run the home, in which seven women now live, Beyer said. He added that the agency applied Wednesday for a $175,000 loan from the city of Elgin, which recently established an emergency loan program for social service agencies.
The loan fund has $425,000 available; a review committee will evaluate Ecker Center's application and present its recommendation to the city council March 16, senior management analyst Laura Valdez-Wilson said. The terms of the loan, which so far only the Association for Individual Development has applied for and obtained, require payments to begin within six months.
Beyer said several elected officials urged her to apply for the loan, a move she had initially shied away from because she was unsure the agency would be able to repay the money.
Mayor David Kaptain said he and state Rep. Steve Andersson were among those who encouraged Beyer to apply.
"I don't think anybody is going to put a black mark on them if they don't start paying immediately," he said, adding the final decision rests with the city council.
In the first eight months of the fiscal year, Ecker Center provided $1,097,098 in services without payment, including Medicaid payments and about $460,000 in grants for psychiatry and sliding fee scale services that were eliminated, Beyer said. The agency has received federal "pass-through" money in grants, but none of the state money, she said.