Support AID's 60 years of service to the community on Giving Tuesday Nov. 30
Help celebrate 60 years of the Association of Individual Development's community services by helping to raise $60,000 on Giving Tuesday Nov. 30.
The dedicated AID staff are facing this unprecedented challenge head on; ensuring clients have access to food, medicine and shelter. Your gifts matter!
Hear some of the inspiring stories made possible thanks to the support of AID's dedicated staff and generous community champions like yourself.
• Experiencing profound grief and depression after losing both her brother and father within four months, Robyn sought local mental health services. Robyn found the coping mechanisms and relief she desperately needed with AID McHenry Behavioral Health Services. With the guidance of one-on-one therapy and individualized medication management, Robyn has regained control of her life. She is currently back in school and looks forward to returning to the workforce in the near future.
• Rafael always dreamed of having a job. He has a tenacious work ethic, but needed extra support to get the job he wanted. Thanks to the guidance and support of AID Employment Services specialists, Rafael learned the necessary skills to secure a job as a member of the janitorial crew working at the Federal Aviation Administration (Aurora). Rafael recently celebrated his third anniversary at the FAA and is just as committed to his job as the day he started. His enthusiasm for his job shone through in a recent presentation he made to fellow AID clients about the joy of having a career.
• After the tragic and sudden loss of a child, a father and a best friend, Jane was overcome with grief. The inability to cope with these life events and lack of familial support led to 11 years of homelessness, increased substance use and exploitation in the form of prostitution by human traffickers. In September of this year, Jane made a concerted effort to change her life course. With the help of the AID Street Outreach program and the Elgin Housing Authority, Jane moved into her own apartment for the first time in over a decade. As she continues to attend therapy sessions and seek-out a career, Jane's future is looking brighter than ever before.
Amid a time of uncertainty, it is so rewarding to highlight and celebrate great successes! Your continued generosity can help AID make a difference in the lives of thousands more individuals like Robyn, Rafael and Jane.
Make a donation online at AIDcares.org between now and Nov. 30, and the Coleman Foundation will match $100 of all individual online gifts of $100 or more, up to $12,500 total.
Facebook pays all the processing fees for you, so 100% of your donation goes directly to the nonprofit.
Donations also accepted at AIDcares.org/ILGive.
In fiscal year 2021, AID served 6,300 people in client-centric, community-based programs. AID currently operates community centers in Elgin, Aurora, Batavia, Sugar Grove and Yorkville, mental health outpatient clinics throughout the Fox Valley, supports 1,000 individuals living in their own apartments, and more than 220 individuals in three dozen group homes scattered throughout the greater Fox Valley.
AID collaborates with Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers, managed care companies, Frequent Users (FUSE) programs, Continua of Cares, and local hospital systems to decrease homelessness, increase employment and improve the mental and physical health of residents.
AID wishes to thank the countless staff members, volunteers, fellow nonprofits, generous donors and community supporters throughout the years for making this celebration possible. They look forward to another 60 years of providing important services to individuals with developmental, behavioral and crisis needs across Kane, Kendall, DeKalb, DuPage, Will, McHenry and suburban Cook County communities.
Celebrating 60 years of providing customized, consumer-focused programs and services in an equitable, inclusive manner, the Association for Individual Development works with individuals with developmental, intellectual, physical and/or mental health challenges, those who have suffered a trauma, those experiencing immediate and/or chronic crises and those at risk to overcome personal, behavioral, societal and environmental barriers to achieve recovery, independence, self-reliance and to live the lives they choose.