Children's Advocacy Center campaign has plenty of heart
The answer was right there in the logo.
A heart.
The Children's Advocacy Center of North & Northwest Cook County had been seeking a meaningful symbol to anchor its 2021 fundraiser.
The need to send the right message was strong. Due to COVID, the Hoffman Estates-based CAC, which has a satellite office on Revere Drive in Northbrook, didn't hold its usual "Hope, Heal, Grow" benefit event in 2020. That event, at Medinah Country Club, brings in about $200,000, CAC marketing manager Hollie Ross said.
They sought a symbol of the CAC mission to empower and help the victims of childhood abuse and prevent future abuse, which they've done for some 12,000 families since 1989.
A symbol that represents childhood, and represents healing, Ross said.
It was right there in the logo - in part, a child holding a heart floating above like a balloon.
"This isn't something that defines their story. Their story has yet to be written. And the hearts are a representation of the healing that can be done," Ross said.
The CAC Healing Hearts Campaign had begun, chaired by CAC Leadership board member Troy Triphahn of the WT Group engineering, design and consulting firm in Hoffman Estates.
The hearts, Ross said, "really help start conversations about child abuse and child abuse prevention, because what we've found is people don't really want to talk about it."
"Healing Hearts shows them that they are seen and heard, and their stories matter," she said.
It is difficult not to see the vibrantly painted, 5-foot-tall, 120-pound heart sculpture standing outside of the Northbrook Police station, 1401 Landwehr Road, which was dedicated May 26. The CAC works with the Northbrook Police Department which, like the village itself, dedicates annual funds to CAC.
That heart, transformed by artist Heather Killian from a blank, white, fiberglass "canvas" to a joyful, two-sided statement piece, came courtesy of a $5,000 donation by the Northbrook Police Department and the Village of Northbrook. Of the 38 communities within the CAC service area asked to sponsor a heart sculpture, Northbrook was the first to do so, according to the village.
Hearts come in various styles, sizes and price points, from a sole $25,000 model that's already been purchased to tabletop hearts, plus yard signs and $25 "virtual" hearts. The whole array, and how to donate, is available online at cachelps.org/healing-hearts.
"Each statue is unique, just like the children who walk through our doors, and their stories," Ross said.
As of Tuesday she said 35 hearts had been sold, including 7 blank tabletop models for people to paint as they wished. CAC had grossed around $109,000 toward its goal of $150,00 for the campaign.
The big one in front of the Northbrook Police station was commissioned by the village and by the Northbrook Arts Commission. The commission had previously worked with Killian, who over the years installed pieces in the Northbrook Public Library and the Northbrook Park District's Leisure Center.
Notably, Killian also created giant puppets, taller than 10 feet, for the Northbrook Civic Foundation to use in the Fourth of July Parade. She's got a slew of puppets and other fun creations on her Rogue Llama Art and Puppetry website, roguellama.com.
For this commission, she researched the Children's Advocacy Center's mission and spoke with people there to properly convey the campaign's meaning.
"I wanted to represent them, I wanted it to be a positive message visually, and I wanted it to draw attention to the heart and maybe get people looking into what it was for, maybe contributing and helping out the CAC," Killian said.
She came up with two separate paintings of children, one on each side of the 3-dimensional heart sculpture. On the front, with a baby blue background, a child sits in a large hand representing an uplifting adult. On the reddish back of the heart a leaping, smiling girl swings from a "Northbrook Strong" banner. Butterflies abound on both sides.
Killian didn't go about this willy-nilly. Butterflies represent transition, and the work's "ombré" - a gradual shift of color from dark to light - signifies the fading of one chapter of life into a positive next phase.
"It's a journey for your eyes. I'm very much the artist who wants you to question what you're looking at," Killian said.
Spoiler alert, but she painted one of the children in an off-white color with a multitude of clinging butterflies, while the girl on the other side is brightly multicolored.
"It's a visual journey of where you started and where you could go," Killian said. "It's kind of a message of hope."