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| NewsTuesday, August 28, 2007 5:55 PM CDT |
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Easter Seals seeks to raise awareness, money
BLOOMINGTON -- Easter Seals has continued to grow since it moved into its building at 2404 E. Empire St. earlier this year. For the organization to keep responding to demand for its childhood screening, diagnostic and therapy services, Easter Seals needs to build awareness and raise money, said Erin Rogers, vice president of program services for Easter Seals of Peoria and Bloomington. “Our community has an idea of Easter Seals but there’s still a gap in understanding what we do,” Rogers said Tuesday. “To grow our organization, we need to grow our community awareness and engagement and that’s the purpose of Thursday morning.” On Thursday morning, a group of community leaders who are Easter Seals supporters have invited others to tour the Easter Seals building and learn more about Easter Seals’ work with children with developmental and speech delays and disabilities, such as autism, cerebral palsy, spina bifida and Down syndrome. Easter Seals provides therapy services, including physical, occupational, speech and developmental. This month, 325 children are receiving services at Easter Seals. Throughout the year, more than 1,200 children will be served by 22 Easter Seals employees, including 16 therapists, Rogers said. Numbers have increased as the Bloomington-Normal area’s population has grown and as more medical professionals and others have become aware of Easter Seals’ services in Bloomington, Rogers said. Easter Seals bought the building after outgrowing its previous location on Heartland Drive and is making building modifications, Rogers said. To help pay for the building and renovations, Easter Seals will have a fundraising campaign but details and timing have yet to be determined, she said. The building includes offices for the Autism Society of McLean County, which moved into the building in July, said Jacquie Mace, the society’s executive director. “It’s great to have a physical location where we can meet with families,” Mace said of the society, which also is growing as the number of children diagnosed with autism increases. The society, Easter Seals and families benefit from the two organizations being in the same building, she said. Plans call for the building also to include a family and community autism resource center. But that center is relying on state funding, which is on hold until the state’s budget is finalized, Rogers said. Meanwhile, Children’s Hospital of Illinois in Peoria is remodeling a part of the building’s second floor for pediatric surgery and pediatric cardiology clinics. The clinics would be for Bloomington-Normal area children for screening before surgery at the hospital and for follow-up care after surgery to reduce the number of trips to Peoria, said hospital spokesman Chris Lofgren. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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