From the
above ZoomInfo entry for ChildServ, color emphasis added:
Company Description: ChildServ was originally established as the
Methodist Deaconess Orphanage in 1894, when two Methodist deaconesses took in seven homeless children from Chicago. The children lived in a church tent on the Methodist Campground for the summer of 1894; the program was so successful, they acquired the property in 1895. The Agency was renamed the
Lake Bluff/Chicago Homes for Children and later became
ChildServ.[/list][/size]
This excerpt from the below following article notes the support / sponsorship of this organization by at least one local United Methodist Church, at least during the period of the mid 1980s (color emphasis added):
[Glenview
United Methodist Church] also supports the Marcy-Newberry Association, a social agency with two locations in Chicago that offers Head Start, after school and seniors programs, and the
Lake Bluff/Chicago Homes for Children.[/list][/size]
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Chicago TribuneChurches Reach Out Past WallsJune 12, 1985 | By Jayne S. Krichbaum.Glenview's houses of worship are taking care of their community's spiritual, mental and physical problems and are not being timid about taking on more.
It's not that Glenview residents generate a lot of problems, it's because Glenview churches have seen a need for help in other suburbs, parts of Chicago, even in other countries. They are lending help in many forms to some overburdened congregations and individuals.
Many Glenview churches have "sister churches" that they help financially and with food and clothing donations. They also share liturgies. The churches also support nondenominational schools and regularly collect food and clothing for depositories. One church has taken to the radio to broadcast a thought for the day in addition to local high school basketball games. Another supports a home for elderly people; yet another is offering its church grounds to a congregation currently removing asbestos from the ceiling of its synagogue.
Denominations in Glenview include Assembly of God, Baptist, Christian Science, Community, Episcopal, Evangelical Covenant, Evangelical Free, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, Lutheran, Lutheran Missouri Synod, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Swedenborgian and United Church of Christ, and the village soon will have a Mormon temple.
To unite the churches, some Glenview pastors meet the second Monday of each month as members of the Glenview Clergy Association.
"The group is a fellowship group. Primarily we gather together to keep open lines of communication among ourselves and therefore the churches," says Rev. Raymond Miller, head pastor of Glenview United Methodist Church and association convener.
If a disaster were to strike, such as a fire or tornado, these group members would "certainly be in touch with each other communicating how we could best deal with that situation," he says.
Rev. Miller says his congregation contributes food and money to the Church Federation of Greater Chicago every Sunday. The Wesley Day Care Center, serving preschool children and offering an after-school program for older children, was begun by the church and is run separately from it. "We see that as a mission to the community," he says. For more information about the day-care program, phone 729-3606.
Rummage sales are held by the Women's Club to benefit the day-care center and other mission projects. The church also supports the Marcy-Newberry Association, a social agency with two locations in Chicago that offers Head Start, after school and seniors programs, and the Lake Bluff/Chicago Homes for Children.
"It does seem to me that many people in the Glenview community are interested in reaching out to needs that exist," Rev. Miller says. "Perhaps the needs are not as great here as they would be in other communities. People are interested in meeting the needs and reaching out in other areas to help if they can."
St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church will mark its 25th anniversary Sept. 22 with Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Catholic archbishop of Chicago. Founding pastor Rev. William J. Buckley, 74, now retired, celebrated 50 years as a priest in April. He has seen many changes in Glenview's Catholic and other churches.
About the time Father Buckley founded St. Catherine, "Vatican II was coming in and brought many changes with it. Some we liked and some we didn't," he says.
"I think bringing people into the picture much more closely and intimately than before has been a much better influence. It's to everyone's advantage, now that there is a much closer relationship with the churches in Glenview. There's sort of a hope and attempt to bring about a much better relationship and understanding between the priests and ministers. We've made big strides opening our doors to each other."
Rev. Joseph E. Auer, who has served St. Catherine's for four years, says the membership is nearing 5,000. Through the church's Christian Outreach program, members collect food for St. Roman Catholic Church in Chicago.
Through the outreach program, "We do a lot of referral work, dealing with alcoholics, mental problems, emergency counseling like suicide or hospital care," Father Auer says.
The church employs Patricia Foley as a full time pastoral minister who has a volunteer staff.
As director of the Christian Outreach program, Foley cares for the parish's elderly, taking them to doctors, bringing them meals, checking on them and putting them in touch with social services. She also teaches sacramental instruction to children who have had no religious training.
Foley visits inactive church members. She also brings communion to those who cannot attend church and visits the sick in nursing homes and hospitals because "they need the company as well as the sacrament," she says.
In the last month, she has helped collect food and furniture for two Glenview families who lost all their possessions in separate fires. One family is a member of the parish; the other is not. She also works with the North Shore Senior Center in Winnetka, placing some of her people with the center.
"We pick up on anything--just people who call, strangers. We try to help them if we can, but refer them to Catholic Charities if they have needs we cannot meet," Foley says.
The church also makes donations to Chicago Archdiocese charities. St. Catherine School children are raising money to help a school in Lima, Peru, and thus far have raised $2,000, Father Auer says.
At Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church, Rev. George Scoulas, head pastor, says the main charity of this church is donating and distributing clothing and food in the Chicago area. The church also runs Sts. Peter and Paul Nursery School for children of all denominations. Its number is 729-2235. "We have ongoing weekly food drives where people bring in canned and dried foods. We take them to different centers in Chicago and the suburbs, Mt. Pisgah Church (a Baptist church in Chicago), the Indian Center on (Chicago's) North Side and to homes of people whose names have been given to us," Father Scoulas says.
Rabbi Mark S. Shapiro of Congregation B'Nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim, says the synagogue conducts a preschool program cosponsored by the North Shore Jewish Community Centers. The preschool, 729-7575, is on Milwaukee Avenue in Glenview.
Synagogue members also hold monthly blood drives for the Northwest Suburban Blood Center and support a food pantry in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, the community in which the synagogue originated before it moved to Glenview in 1965, Rabbi Shapiro says.
Rev. Daniel F. Sullivan, associate pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, says his congregation has four parishes in Chicago--St. James, St. Laurence, St. Ludmilla and St. Sabina--to which it takes canned food and shares liturgies.
The church's Ministry of Care program brings communion to the sick and also arranges visits to the sick and transportation for the elderly.
The church also runs Maryhaven, a convalescent home at 1700 East Lake Ave. in Glenview, started by a former pastor. The parish supports the home because the fees charged do not meet expenses; not all residents are church members.
"Some people can't live by themselves any more because of a medical problem, or they can't cope with life alone, they have family members that live away from here and they don't want to move in with their sons or daughters because they are too far away," Father Sullivan says.
To care for children, the church supports a preschool program for kindergarten and preschool children. Those interested in the preschool program or Maryhaven should call 729-1525.
Every year a Chicago Hispanic family needing help is "adopted" by Immanuel Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, says Rev. Richard Maassel, pastor. The family is adopted through the Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, a social service agency for the synod. The church has a Social Ministry Commission that collects cans of food and accepts donations for the Chicago Uptown Ministry, an organization that provides needs for the homeless.
"When people do come seeking out counseling, we do provide it; if it is requiring something more intensive, we provide more professional care," Rev. Maassel says.
He also notes that "We do provide regular support for Lutheran World Relief for people overseas. A lot of support has been given to Ethiopia that way."
The church members also hold a clothing drive for the world relief program, and Social Ministry Commission members conduct a blood drive once a year.
Immanuel Church of the New Jerusalem--New Church, as it is known locally--is one of the older churches in town. The Swedenborgian community was established in the area in 1892, seven years before Glenview was incorporated in 1899. Rev. Brian Keith says the church runs a food pantry for the benefit of Northfield Township and collects toys at Christmas for inner-city schools. It also runs radio station WMWA (FM 88.5), which features "easy listening" and classical music.
Station manager Dan Woodard says WMWA is primarily a school station that is owned by the New Church. The Glenbrook North and South High Schools use the station, sometimes to rebroadcast basketball and football games, and Little League championship games occasionally are broadcast.
The radio station--which derived its call letters from Midwestern Academy, the Immanuel Church school--offers thoughts for the day.
"We are always open and available to broadcast an interview with someone connected with an outreach group," Woodard says. The church's number is 724-0057.
Immanuel Church, which is on large grounds that include a lake, is lending use of a field by the lake to Congregation B'Nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim, says Rev. Keith. Asbestos materials in the synagogue must be removed, and Rabbi Shapiro and his congregation needed a temporary worshipping place for several Friday evening and Saturday morning services.
And so Glenview churches and synagogues have clothed, fed and sated the thirst of many people. But, armed with the knowledge that man does not live by bread alone, they have offered many others, in the Glenview tradition, a bear hug of support and understanding and a thought for the day.
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