Area resources crowd into We Care Grundy County for GAP

Local aid organizations and non-profits crowded into We Care Grundy County’s home at 530 Bedford Rd. in Morris Wednesday for the quarterly “Grundy Area Providers” Resource Day.

Executive Director Eric Fisher said the goal is to be a one-stop shop for those in need and fill in the gaps for those in need. That’s where the name comes from: “Grundy Area Providers” is long for GAP.

The event, which is co-hosted with the Grundy County Health Department and sponsored by Comcast, drew around 35 vendors ranging from Grundy Area Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS), the Northern Illinois Food Bank, the Lion’s Club and its Read Between the Lions program.

Larry and Joanne Johnson were at their table promoting literacy, distributing a numbered-reading test that helps people tell if they’re seeing text in the correct order by placing numbers like “1″, “2″ and “3″ in lines. Numbers appear at different intervals across the page.

“If a child can track the numbers, they should be successful learning to read,” Larry said. “If they don’t have the ability to track across the page, then their reading won’t develop as it should.”

Larry said this is a test that can help tell if something is wrong, and it can be the first step in helping a child get help from a doctor or their school.

Phil Wardlow, Grundy Area PADS’ Vice President of Rapid Rehousing, said the shelter’s rapid rehousing program started in August 2018, and they have since housed 65 people. PADS currently has 11 people in eight units, and 40 of those helped have graduated to self-sufficiency or housing stability.

Wardlow said the Grundy Area PADS is open from October to mid-April, with hopes of expanding to year-round at some point.

Krista Stevenson, the Northern Illinois Food Bank’s SNAP Outreach Coordinator, said her team travels to Grundy, Kankakee and Will counties to guide people who need SNAP through the process.

Also appearing at GAP was the Grundy County Veterans Assistance Commission and Ken Buck, who aids veterans with transportation to appointments and things like paying for utilities, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, a program that provides the opportunity for children to link up and obtain mentorship from an adult, Grundy County Children’s Advocacy, which helps children in difficult situations navigate the legal process.

There were also mental health advocacy groups and support groups like the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), which provides educational programs for those facing mental illness and Heart Life Ministries Recovery, a faith-based group that focuses on substance abuse prevention, suicide prevention and immediate crisis care.

Fisher said these GAP events will occur quarterly. The next event takes place at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 19.