Glendale Heights – As a way of giving back to those
less fortunate this holiday season, students at Adventist GlenOaks
Therapeutic Day
School have volunteered at homeless shelters and
organized food and clothing drives in the community.
Every year, staff, students and parents at the school’s
three campuses choose a holiday service mission. This year, the north campus in
Glendale Heights chose the Glen Ellyn Food
Pantry; school officials dropped off eight bags of food at the pantry last week.
The west campus in North Aurora and south campus in Glen Ellyn collected
clothing, food and Christmas gifts to benefit Aunt Martha’s Aurora Community
Health Center, a nonprofit social service and health care agency, and collected
coats, mittens and other outerwear for the local Goodwill agency.
“I’m so proud of the service my staff and students
provide our community each holiday season,” said Lisa Grigsby, director of Adventist GlenOaks Therapeutic
Day School. “Proper
stewardship of community resources is a valuable lesson for our students to
learn.”
Representatives of Aunt Martha’s said they
appreciate the school’s support.
“It is always so nice when we can partner with the
community to make sure that those less fortunate are cared about,” said Shelly
Goodmanson, Aunt Martha’s director of communications and development. “This is
a difficult time for so many and the students have done a fantastic job of
providing for Aunt Martha’s families.”
Students in the school’s Transition program, which
teaches young adults age 17 to 21 the life skills they need to become
independent adults, boxed food and goods for needy Glendale
Heights residents. Many students and staff in the program also
volunteer two to three hours a week throughout the year at a local PADS
homeless shelter, Willowbrook Wildlife Center
in Glen Ellyn and Adventist GlenOaks Hospital
in Glendale Heights.
Designed for children with learning disabilities
and emotional and psychiatric problems, Adventist GlenOaks
Therapeutic Day
School was founded in 1995. Elementary through
high-school age (grades 3 through 12) students earn normal academic credits
while addressing their therapeutic goals. Along with traditional individual and
group therapy, the school uses recreation, pets, music and art activities with
certified therapists to help with physical, social and emotional growth.
The school is staffed by a caring group of
teachers, nurses, social workers, therapists, clinical psychologists and a
psychiatrist; there is one staff member for every three students. Its
enrollment is approximately 120 students at north (main) campus in Glendale
Heights, 40 at the west campus in North Aurora and 30 at the south campus in Glen Ellyn. The school is funded partly through local
school districts in the six-county area that are reimbursed by the state and
partly through Adventist
GlenOaks Hospital
and GlenOaks Hospital Foundation.