Our Guest Speakers and grant recipients for the 8-12 weekly meeting were members of The Orchard Village and The Turning Point. All guests were given time by Club President Ralph Czerwinski to explain to the Club Assembly how funds donated by the club will be used.
The Orchard Village
For more than 40 years, Skokie-based Orchard Village has empowered persons with developmental challenges to achieve fulfilled lives in the community. To accomplish this, we proudly partner with families, neighbours, caregivers, businesses and individuals to provide community-integrated residential, vocational, educational and in-home services for our customers. Working together, everybody benefits. The result: a winning partnership...a caring compact...a warm and mutual embrace.
Their Mission:
Orchard Village partners with families and communities to optimize personal outcomes for individuals with developmental disabilities through a community-integrated approach.
Orchard Village is a fully licensed non-profit organization that provides supportive services to approximately 300 individuals each year. Advocating a person-centered approach, Orchard Village works with each of its customers to identify personal outcomes to strive toward, ensuring that every individual controls his or her own destiny.
Their Programs and Services:
Residential Services – Help people realize their dreams to live in a home in the community, whether a 24-hour or intermittently supervised group home or their own apartment. Our staff actively works with residential clients to ensure they are involved in their environments, are connected to family and friends and meaningfully engaged with their communities.
Vocational Services – Facilitate the desire for a job, supported or competitive. Vocational staff listens to the needs and desires of our clients and assesses their skill sets. With individualized training and ongoing support at the work site, clients are successful in their chosen careers. We provide comprehensive training ranging from résumé development to career advancement.
In-Home Respite Services – Support families who provide, in their own homes, ongoing care to their loved ones with disabilities. We provide a trained respite worker, matched to a family’s needs, to give members the gift of time to relax, recharge or attend to their other obligations.
Home Based Support Services – Provide support for children and adults who live at home with their families or on their own in the community. The program offers grant funds with which individuals can purchase services that allow them to maintain home living and reach personal goals.
Orchard Academy – Teaches the independent living, vocational and social skills necessary for 17-thru-21 year-olds in special education to transition successfully into adult life. Students find success in securing and retaining employment, learning to navigate public transportation, being involved in social activities, living on a budget, planning a daily menu, caring for their home and other skills essential to living on their own.
The Turning Point
The Turning Point is an outpatient mental health center that exists to provide expert care and relief, no matter who you are or what your situation might be. We guide you through the most frightening and difficult steps and decisions you face and help to ensure that you maintain your legal rights. We provide solid support, every step of the way, recognizing each client’s efforts to change, stabilize and grow.
For the second year in a row, the Skokie Chamber of Commerce has named Turning Point its Nonprofit of the Year! Howard Meyer, Executive Director of the Chamber, heralded this as a “deserving and unprecedented” occurrence, as we are the first organization to receive this award for two consecutive years. The award was received at the Chamber’s Annual Board Installation and Membership Awards Luncheon on Thursday, January 24.
