Joliet’s CYC legacy continues as The Center finds a place at The Table every Thursday night

In 2007, someone asked Harv Russell if today’s youth were different from youth 50 years ago.

At the time, the former Christian Youth Center in Joliet was celebrating its 50th anniversary, Russell, who had worked in youth ministry since 1947, easily answered that question.

“I often go to the center and look around at the kids and see that nothing has changed, except the names and the faces,” Russell said in the 2007 story. “Kids still look for love, encouragement, attention and significance.”

This is why Kelly Corcoran, executive director of The Center, is inviting all teens and young adults to their place at The Table every Thursday night.

The Center is a nonprofit organization with “deep roots in the ministry of The Christian Youth Center,” Corcoran said in a written statement.

The Table, led by its pastor Nate Smith, is located at 1451 Black Road in Joliet. Gym time starts 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. and a program at 7 p.m.

The program includes live music, small groups, prayer and an inspiring message delivered by a dynamic guest speaker, Corcoran said. Everything is free and open to any teen or young adult, Corcoran said.

“They will find a friendly environment a welcoming atmosphere, and they will find hope,” Corcoran said. “Because that’s what we are looking for right now – hope in the world. There is a lot of depression and anxiety and isolation, especially after COVID. We will help them to see that there is hope and that hope is in Jesus.”

Corcoran said The Center had lost its meeting place in 2020 due to COVID mitigations. So for more than two years, The Center has met in “driveways, living rooms, backyards and parks,” Corcoran said in a written statement.

The Center attracts a diverse group of youth and young adults, many of whom travel more than an hour to attend meetings, Corcoran said.

“Today we’re seeing kids more isolated and depressed and anxious than we ever have before,” Corcoran said. “The Center offers them hope and connects them to God.”

Russell said in a 2007 Herald-News story that CYC unofficially began in 1947 when the first Hi Crusaders met in a back room of the old Ridgewood Baptist Church, the corner of Brown and Leech. The Hi Crusaders were, at the time, an independent youth program youth with individual clubs throughout the Chicago area. Russell eventually oversaw 60 Hi Crusaders Clubs.

Membership of the Joliet Hi Crusaders quickly grew to more than 100 attendees. Because Russell didn’t want the Joliet Hi Crusaders affiliated with one organization location, the group met in various places: the basement of the Joliet Public Library, upstairs in the old Mode theatre and the Salvation Army hall. Still, Russell said he wished for a permanent location.

In the fall of 1957, a group of businessmen – some former members of the Joliet Hi Crusaders – began the Christian Layman’s Association and rented a storefront on Cass Street, near Joliet Central High School.

Russell became CYC’s executive director in 1961 and moved CYC into a half a million dollar structure on 20 acres on Manhattan Road, a structure that cleared its mortgage within four years and offered programs for youth of all ages until it closed in 2013.

That’s when Corcoran, a former member of CYC’s youth group and former director of its teen group, started The Center to keep the spirit of CYC alive and to continue connecting youth to Christ.

“Harv mentored me,” Corcoran said. “And now I’m continuing what he started many years ago.”

For more information, visit thecenterjoliet.org.