Longtime community volunteer to receive William D. Barth Award

Ann Alexander was a good graphics designer well before that became a computerized skillset. But few, if any, requests for her drawing and design skills were more important in terms of blossoming into long-time community support than one that came from her sister-in-law in the late 1960s.

“I was a new bride at the time, and my sister-in-law (Mary Ann Alexander) was on the board of the St. Charles Youth Project and they needed a logo design and some catchy wording that would work on a notepad,” Alexander recalled.

“I can't even remember what I came up with, but I drew a design and they used it. From that point on, I was sort of following how the project was coming along — and that would eventually become TriCity Family Services.”

And TCFS had much to gain by having Alexander's attention for the next 56 years. So much so, that the agency has named Alexander the recipient of this year's William D. Barth Award, given annually to a community volunteer who has gone above and beyond in supporting the agency and other worthy causes.

As the St. Charles Youth Project evolved, Alexander was there for the agency's humble beginnings in the 1970s in a small building near the Geneva Congregational Church. The agency consolidated the St. Charles, Batavia and Geneva youth projects under one roof as the TriCity Youth Project.

A name change to TriCity Family Project followed, before those involved in the agency settled on TriCity Family Services in 1980.

After serving on the TCFS board from 1991 to 1999, Alexander was board president in 1997. She also served from 2007 to 2009 as president of “The Friends” of TriCity Family Services.

She and her late husband Tom also had deep roots with the Batavia Congregational Church, which was founded in 1834 in an Eola cabin where Tom's great-grandfather lived.

Alexander has held many leadership positions at BCC during her and Tom's longtime membership. For the past four or five years, Alexander has served as chair of the BCC's justice and witness commission.

The list of Alexander's other work for TCFS includes volunteering for various events or helping prepare for the agency's annual gala fundraiser. But one stands out with special meaning because she saw first-hand how it changed some kids' lives.

“I've known kids who have gone through the Wilderness Challenge program, those in eighth grade, not quite ready for high school, learning how to rely on each other and overcome real challenges of setting up camp and canoeing,” Alexander said of the annual trip in which some TCFS employees go on a week-long camping trip with young clients in the boundary waters area of northern Minnesota. “It's been one of my favorite programs.”

Alexander also cited the benefit for those in various youth projects who have been helped by the agency's eating disorders program. “It is so timely now,” she added.

If one could point to a lasting legacy of Ann and Tom Alexander, it would likely be the couple's support and efforts through the Fox River Valley Initiative to have a crisis stabilization unit established at Mercy Hospital in Aurora.

On March 1, 2023, the CSU became an alternative to hospital emergency rooms for those experiencing a mental health crisis. It came about because of the Alexanders' persistence over several years and three hospital acquisitions that changed the leadership and brand of Mercy Center.

Her nomination for the Barth Award came from a group of virtually every TCFS long-time employee, all of whom fully understand what Alexander's ongoing support has meant.

“I had encounters with Ann over the many years, the kind that happen spontaneously in hallways,” Greg Watson, a long-time therapist at the agency who recently retired, noted in his nomination letter.

“With the greatest of enthusiasm and curiosity, Ann would inquire about how things were going with the programs and activities we were connected with,” Watson noted. “This would always lead to discussing the very real needs of the many individuals and families we were serving.”

Yet, like most community volunteers, Alexander tends to shy away from the limelight, though she won't be able to hide from it on Wednesday, Oct. 18, when TCFS honors her with the Barth Award.

“I would just as soon not have the fanfare, but it is a great honor,” said Alexander, who has lived in Sugar Grove since 1980.

“I have loved working with all of these people,” she added. “It was exciting to be on the board when we built up the agency and moved it from the church parsonage, and now have had to branch out from that to its current location (1120 Randall Court in Geneva).”