April 2015 CHILD ABUSE AWARENESS AND PREVENTION MONTH April is National Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month. McDonough County CASA and the Children’s Advocacy Center held a flag raising ceremony on April 1st at Macomb City Hall. Mayor Michael Inman read a proclamation and a Children’s Bill of Rights poster was on display for those in attendance to sign. The poster will be on display on various locations in Macomb throughout April. Thank you to the City of Macomb, the Illinois State Police and to everyone who attended this event. April events are being finalized in our other counties. As a community, we have a responsibility in knowing how to recognize abuse and neglect and knowing the proper steps to take to report suspected child abuse and neglect. Progress has been made, but we must continue to move forward with the message that child abuse and neglect can not and will not be tolerated. Suspected child abuse is sufficient reason to make a report to authorities. You do not need proof. Your call may save the life of a child. If you suspect that a child is being abused or neglected, please call 1-800-252-2873 (1-800-25 ABUSE). CALENDAR OF EVENTS April 01 Flag Raising Event - Macomb 03 Office closed 09 Noon Networking - Quincy office 11 Koins for Kids - Macomb 13 Koins for Kids - Quincy 14 Brown Bag Lunch - Macomb Office May 02 Dogwood Parade - Quincy 12 Brown Bag Lunch - Macomb office 14 Noon Networking - Quincy office 25 Office closed We currently have the following volunteer needs:  Happy Bear Presentations  Fundraising  Mailings If you would like to help, please contact our office at 217-2232272. Our agency could not continue its mission of advocating for children without your help. You can help by:  Monetary Donation  Endowment Fund Donation  Office Supply Donation  Kid/Family DVD’s THANK YOU Mike Lockett and Concord Custom Cleaners recently provided cleaning services for the agency’s Happy Bear mascot outfit. Happy Bear is part of the agency’s Prevention Program and is used for presentations to pre-K through 1st grade children. McDonough County CASA was presented with a check in the amount of $1,000.00 from the Good Hope-Sciota Lion’s Club. Pictured (left to right) are President Mike Ward, members Clarence Waldinger, Galen Olson, and Eunice Lutz and CASA Volunteer Coordinator, Vicki Olson. KOINS FOR KIDS Advocacy Network for Children will be conducting its first ever Koins for Kids events. On April 11th the McDonough County CASA program will be seeking donations from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Farm King and Hy-Vee in Macomb. On April 13th the agency will be seeking donations at the corners of 18th & State in Quincy throughout the day. As April is Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month, we hope to bring awareness to this issue as well as raise funds for the agency. If you would like to help us, please call the office and ask for Diane. MCDONOUGH COUNTY CASA SELECTED AS VIBE RECIPIENT Volunteers Interested in Benefitting Everyone (VIBE) selected the McDonough County CASA program as one of its two beneficiaries to receive funding. VIBE annually fundraises approximately $100,000.00 that is split between local charities in the Macomb area. As the money cannot go towards salaries, it will most likely be used for local outreach, training of more CASA volunteers which is greatly needed, and daily operations. NEW INTERVIEW SITES We are excited to announce that the Children’s Advocacy Center has two new interview sites. We will soon be moving into the Schuyler County Mental Health building located at 127 South Liberty, Rushville and are now in the First Southern Baptist Church located at 900 Grand Avenue, Beardstown. The new locations are bigger and will allow our staff and multidisciplinary team members to better serve our victims and their families. COME WALK WITH US We will be walking in the Dogwood Parade in Quincy on May 2nd and the Heritage Days Parade in Macomb on June 27th. If you would like to join us in bringing awareness to our agency and its mission, please call the office and talk to Diane. We would love to have you! 531 Hampshire Street, 2nd Floor, Quincy, IL 62301 217.223.2272 (phone) 217.223.6791 (fax) www.advonet.org