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In this issue: Stopping the Cycle of Child Abuse, Runaway Prevention Month, Holiday Gift Drive, Home Is Where the Heart Is Gala, Thank You's, Jobs at Shelter and more!

Healthy Relationships Build Confidence and Competence
Shelter's Healthy Families Program provides one-on-one support during
a child's most formative years.

Being a parent can be challenging even in the best of circumstances. But imagine being a parent for the first-time if you are a teenager with a lack of support or a limited education. Or a new parent who is experiencing mental health issues, suffering from substance abuse, or living in poverty. How would feel and how would you fare if you had no one to turn to for guidance and support?

Enter Shelter's Healthy Families program. Healthy Families is a nationally recognized home visiting program that offers five years of free, one-on-one support for first-time parents who face multiple challenges. The goal of the program is to help strengthen family functioning and reduce the risk of child abuse or neglect. 

Our staff work with parents during a child’s most formative years – from birth through age 5 – to create safe and healthy environments for their babies. Through regular home visits, Shelter staff support parents in achieving fundamental skills such as stress management, effective discipline, health care, and nutrition while connecting them to critical community resources.

The staff-family relationship is essential for building both confidence and competence. For many at-risk parents, this is the first time they have a reliable, compassionate support system and someone invested in their success.

Home visiting works! According to Prevent Child Abuse America, Healthy Families reduces instances of involvement with child welfare, improves school readiness, and significantly decreases instances of intimate partner violence by more than 30 percent. 

If you know a new parent who would benefit from free one-on-one support, please contact our Healthy Families Director, Lynn Puckelwartz.

This month is National Runaway Prevention Month and an opportunity to shine a light on the experiences of runaway and homeless youth that too often remain invisible. Whether couch surfing or living on the streets, runaway youth face critical challenges. They may be forced to exchange sex for food or shelter, sell drugs, or fall victim to human traffickers. LGBTQ+ youth have a 120% higher risk of being homeless. 

Shelter's Emergency Group Homes and Youth Experiencing Homelessness program both provide trauma-informed care and comprehensive services to assist runaway and homeless youth. If you know a young person who is struggling or in need of housing, please encourage them to call Shelter's 24-hour Hotline at 847-255-8060.

Clothing Drive Warms up Winter for Shelter's Kids

Thanks to your generosity, Shelter's kids are all geared up for winter! You warmed our hearts by purchasing more than 600 needed items, including new winter coats, hats, boots, gloves, sweaters, and seasonal apparel for the babies, children, and young adults in our programs.  

Gala tickets are sold out!

Shelter's Home is Where the Heart Is Gala is this Friday! Thank you to all who purchased tickets to join us. Our event is sold out but you can still support Shelter! Please make a donation today. Your contribution will provide counseling services for young people who are suffering from trauma, support our foster families with essential items when they take in a child, furnish apartments for youth experiencing homelessness, fund home visiting services to new, at-risk parents, and so much more. Interested in attending the Gala as a volunteer? Sign up below.

The holidays can be a difficult and emotional time for children who have experienced trauma and are separated from their families. Your gift will help brighten the holidays for children living in our emergency group homes, children in foster care, teens experiencing homelessness, young people in Shelter’s Transitional Living program, babies and toddlers in Healthy Families, and more!

Request a gift list, purchase a gift card, or make a donation. With your help, we can bring joy to children, young adults, and families experiencing crisis.

We are grateful to the following organizations, foundations, and individuals who have made generous grants or gifts to Shelter this past month. 

Alverin M. Cornell Foundation
Zurich North America 
Foglia Family Foundation
The Canning Foundation
Mary Lou Downs Foundation
Mary and Dean Bekas
LeasePlan
Polk Bros. Foundation

If you share our vision that all children grow up in safe and nurturing homes, please support us today. 

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