Searching for Elim

Think it's too complicated to get involved in helping people with disabilities? It's not - really! It's as easy as searching for something on the web - no, really!

In fact, when you use Goodsearch.com to search for everything you usually look for online, you'll generate donations to Elim. Since July, we've raised almost $50, with just a few people using the system. But with 200 people doing just 5 searches per day, we could raise over $3600 in one year!

So, I've got three steps for you to take:

1) Go to GoodSearch.com right now and type in "Elim Christian Services" as your charity, and start searching.
2) Make GoodSearch.com your homepage, so you automatically go there for searches, raising money for Elim's adults and children every day.
3) Tell others - right now. Email this information to all your family & friends and follow up with them to make sure they are helping people with disabilities every time they do online searches.

Here's a screenshot of the GoodSearch website (notice, you can also help Elim by shopping through the GoodSearch website - and there's no better time to shop than right now!)


You can make a big difference with just a few small actions! Please act right now!

Welcoming Disabilities

Helen Keinlen wrote a list for eHow.com called "How to make your house accessible to disabled," grammatically incorrect and non-person-first language notwithstanding. You can read the quick list by clicking here.

Meanwhile, mothers of children with disabilities are invited to relax with other moms once a month in the Kane county area of Chicagoland. Read the article by clicking here. From the article: The group meets from 9 to 11 a.m. the second Saturday of the month at Papa G's restaurant at 250 S. Main St. in Elburn (Illinois) - click here for a map. For information, e-mail Capes at capesfamily@verizon.net.

Today's Blessing: Michael (at Misericordia)

Neal Steinberg, a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, writes today of a little "slice of heaven" he found at Misericordia.

Misericordia is a ministry much like Elim. They focus much more on residential services, and most of their day program focuses on serving adults - but clearly, they also experience the same message that we do here at Elim: We bless them. They bless us. Together, we honor God. Here is an excerpt from the end of Mr. Steinberg's article (I hope you'll click here to read all of it):

'He's a blessing'
When I ask Chris Patarzzi what benefit comes from his daily visits to Michael, I mean what benefit to his brother.
But that's not how Chris takes the question -- he assumes I mean what benefit to himself.
"It has brought me closer to him in ways that never would have happened," he says. "Little parts of his personality that I pick up on that I'd miss if I visited once a month. I can tell when he's happy, I can tell when he's sad."
His brother isn't a burden, he says. He's a blessing.
"He's helping the family," he says. "Our family was really close, before, but Michael has brought us closer. The last 10 years of my life would not have happened without him."

Thank you Mr. Steinberg for being among those whose eyes are open to the blessings that people with disabilities - created by God - are meant to be in this life.

Elim on Your Radio

October 15 was an exciting day for us here at Elim. President Bill Lodewyk and ACE Program Coordinator Anne Lubbers joined WMBI's Steve Hiller on their afternoon Primetime Chicago radio show.

Hiller introduced his listening audience to Elim, sharing how Elim’s ministry is changing the lives of children with autism. You can listen to the interview by clicking here for a streaming audio file (mp3) or you can listen to a downloadable mp3 file by clicking here.

It's exciting to hear about what's going on at Elim on a big-audience radio station like WMBI. Thank you to Steve Hiller and Producer Michelle Strombeck for a great opportunity to represent the adults and children with disabilities at Elim Christian Services.

Finding Strength in Down Syndrome

In the October 14 edition of the Chicago Tribune, reporter Heidi Stevens recounts the Sullivan family's ordeals this past August, as they uncovered their daughter's diagnosis with Down Syndrome.

The assumption is always that such a diagnosis is not only disappointing, but crippling, even tragic. You can not, of course, minimize the difficulty of living with developmental disabilities, nor the danger of its associated health effects, but you can find a peace similar to what the Sullivans have encountered:

"I wish I could go back and tell myself to feel the way I do now, which is completely fine about the diagnosis, even happy about it! I had such a wrong idea of what Down syndrome would mean for our family. Kate is just a unique little girl, just as any child is unique. And she is adorable and such a blessing to our family. I am so happy that she is exactly the way she is. And I love getting to know her more and more each day."

You need to go read the article (click for direct link), it is truly a blessing!

Today's Blessing: Andy

Today we had our golf outing at Olympia Fields Country Club, and we focused on the new HOPE Project. Andy is one of the adults who worked on a HOPE Project assembling backpack supplies for school kids from Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church. For the golf outing, we had Andy and three other adults from our programs for adults with disabilities out on the course. I used Andy in our video and a flyer promoting the project, and Andy was pretty pleased with that. In fact, Andy told me he was "a celebrity," and "I'm going to be famous."

It's always been a blessing to experience Andy's clear and optomistic outlook. Watch this site and Elim's website for more information as the HOPE Project grows. In the meantime, you can check out the HOPE Project promo video below:

The Great Chicago Rain: An Elim Moment

Three weeks ago, Chicago was deluged with a major thunderstorm, including a few funnel clouds. In the midst of this storm, Rene Bamonti, a very dedicated and loving Elim staff member, was transporting many of our adults to and from their community jobs. Here are her reflections on that afternoon's adventure:

A couple of weeks ago when we had that terrible storm on a Thursday night, I was driving in it the entire time, trying to pick up clients that work evenings and get them home safely.

There were roads flooded, traffic lights out, debris flying through the air, traffic was practically at a standstill at times. By the end of the evening, when I finally arrived safely back at the Alsip campus, it was still storming so badly that I was afraid to get out of my car. The rain was coming down in torrents, lightning was flashing, and the thunder was so loud!

Then I had to drive all the way home in it. Needless to say, it made for a very long and scary evening at work. The next morning when I was picking up Lucy Toering (an adult client at Elim) to take her to work, she told me immediately that she had been praying for me the night before, because she knew that I was out driving in the storm. I told her that her prayers must have been heard and answered, because I and all of my passengers and fellow drivers made it through those few anxious hours without a scratch. Lucy thought to pray for me, and that was a blessing.

Rene was blessed by Lucy's thoughtfulness, just as so many people have been blessed to come alongside Elim, knowing that their support is really changing lives.

Oh sure, I can say this - I'm in charge of raising funds, so I'm supposed to say that, but reader, I believe in what Elim is doing to my very core, because I see the difference it makes. Lucy should be concerned about herself and the difficulties of her life with its disabilities. But she's not - she is praying for a staff member because she has been welcomed in the kingdom of Christ on earth. You, when you support Elim are making this happen.

Thank you. And if you aren't supporting Elim already - what are you waiting for? We need you today!