Agencies that help others are struggling

Two months ago, the world shut down. For all of us, it has been a struggle in one way or another. A new way of life, new stressors, new financial burdens, new time on our hands. In some cases it is an opportunity to spend more time with the people in our house. But that opportunity is a curse for those living in homes with violence or emotional, sexual abuse.

Children who used to be able to go to school to get out of the house are now at home with relatives who are under increased stress. Children who used to be able to get away are now locked in a home with their abusers.

No way out, no teacher to report to or friend to sit across the lunch table with. This is the reality of so many children in McHenry County. Children who silently suffer while the rest of us move on with our lives and adapt. We briefly pay attention to these stories when the ultimate tragic light illuminates what some kids see every day, the darkness of living in a home with an abuser.

We are outraged and horrified. We band together and donate money or supplies. But eventually that stops. Eventually, we move on. At the Child Advocacy Center of McHenry County, we do not move on. We do not give up. We take our light and uncover horrific abuse, of all kinds. We set up services for families, we coordinate multi agency responses to investigate crimes, we advocate for children who literally have no one in their corner.

We, like most nonprofits all around the county, have had our budget decimated. Take one moment today to support a local nonprofit. One moment to you could affect a lifetime for someone else.

Mollie Dahlin