Hesed House Contact: Michael Cobb, Executive Director, 630-914-6424; mcobb@hesedhouse.org
Hesed House, the state of Illinois’ second largest homeless shelter serving the Greater Fox Valley and located in Aurora, is proud to announce that the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley has granted the organization a $19,100 grant to upgrade its current security system.
The Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley is a non-profit, philanthropic organization that administers individual, charitable funds from which grants and scholarships are distributed to benefit the citizens of the Greater Aurora Area, the TriCities and Kendall County Illinois.
For 32 years, Hesed House (also known as Public Action to Deliver Shelter, Inc.®) has involved nearly 90 Fox Valley faith-based communities in providing a spectrum of care for homeless men, women and children.
Michael Cobb, Executive Director of Hesed House, states, “The Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley has played a vital role in assisting Hesed House in ministering to the needs of some of the most vulnerable residents of the Fox Valley, as well as the most vulnerable in our state. In my opinion, they are true champions of support for our local human services organizations. As indicated in our most recent grant award, the overall safety of those we serve is also a concern for the Foundation. This security upgrade will allow us to better monitor the two buildings that provide services to over 1,000 individuals a year who are experiencing homelessness and, on any given night, house upwards of 40 children. This is the kind of meaningful support that the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley provides to the area communities. With a newly homeless person arriving at our doors every 8.5 hours, the partnership we have with the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley to end homelessness is critical. On behalf of our staff, board, donors and guests, we thank the Foundation.”
Since the early 1980s, Hesed House has served thousands of the area’s poorest residents. Its mission is to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked and give people a chance to hope again. Hesed House not only provides food and a place to stay through its shelter and permanent housing programs, it provides the services needed to return to independent living. During 2014, its case managers (with the help of over a dozen on-site local service agencies located in its Comprehensive Resource Center) were directly responsible for 229 persons being able to return to independent housing.
For more information about Hesed House, please visit www.hesedhouse.org. To learn more about the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley, visit www.cffrv.org.