HCS Family Services, Golfers Link Up to Raise Money

Dozens of local residents hit the golf course to help struggling families in our area Monday. HCS Family Services held its  at the La Grange Country Club to raise funds for its food pantry, mentoring and job services, among other programs. With the downturn the economy, the agency has had to expand its offerings to meet a growing need in Southeastern DuPage County.

The sun that came out for the event made for a good day on the links as well as as a successful fundraiser.

“Things have gone beautifully,” said HCS Family Services spokesperson Kathy Harris, a Hinsdale resident. “It’s been a great day of golf. We had a lot of fun on the course and a lot of fun with the raffles.”

Foursomes and individual golfers were awarded prizes during the reception dinner that evening for achieving such benchmarks as lowest team score, longest drive, most accurate drive and closest to the pin.

Golfers and non-golfers alike also took part in a silent auction and raffles that were conducted throughout the afternoon and evening.

“It was fantastic,” said Andrew Tistle, a Clarendon Hills resident who played in one of the foursomes. “The setup was beautiful here. They’ve done a great job of getting everyone involved and it’s for a great foundation.”

Proceeds from the outing will be used to fund various programs at HCS Family Services. HCS is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the homeless and low-income individuals and families in the communities of Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills, Darien, Hinsdale, Oak Brook, Willowbrook and Westmont.

HCS provides food pantry services; personalized counseling, guidance and support; education and career development; and practical support to meet immediate, basic needs. It also has expanded recently to include job services, emergency services, homelessness prevention, and rent and utility assistance.

“We’re very optimistic about the future,” said Burr Ridge resident John Eisel, who golfed in the event and has been an HCS Family Services board member for more than a year. “The growing need for the services HCS provides in the multiple community area that we serve was surprising to me as a longtime resident."

“HCS has tremendous leadership right now, and we’re just trying to build community awareness of the organization through events like this. Hopefully from there, (we can) educate people as to the need in our communities and hopefully provide the services that are needed out there.”

One new service that HCS started around six months ago is its family mentoring program. Dan Dunn, vice chairman of the HCS board of directors, said the mentoring program is designed to assist parents of families (or a single parent) with setting long-term goals in several areas such as, for example, education or finances.

Each mentor is a volunteer. These mentors are currently working with six families at HCS.

The mentoring program is different from HCS’ counseling services, Dunn noted.

“The counseling program is one-on-one counseling with a case worker,” he explained. “The family mentorship is more or less an extension. ‘OK, we’re getting some of the day-to-day things taken care of (through counseling). Now let’s talk about where you’re going more long-term.’

“The feedback that we’re getting from the families that are being touched by the mentorship program is just incredibly inspiring.”

Dunn, who’s been with the organization nearly two years, said he likes the direction that HCS has taken over the last year and a half. He said HCS has gone from, in his words, “a pure handout-type organization” to one that empowers low-income families and individuals through the various aforementioned programs.

“At the time, the organization was going through quite a bit of change,” he said. “It’s pretty inspiring. We’re building a lot of corporate partners and getting a lot of the community involved. People are more in touch with what we’re doing.”