Lifelink, Hoyleton Dissolve Affiliation

Lifelink President and CEO Rev. Timothy Rhodes and Hoyleton Youth and Family Services President and CEO Christopher L. Cox announced Aug. 20 the dissolution of the 11-year affiliation of their respective organizations.

Hoyleton Youth and Family Services and its affiliates, Puentes de Esperanza and Hoyleton Children’s Home Foundation, now operate as independent nonprofit, faith-based entities.

Lifelink, located in Bensenville, Ill., and Hoyleton Youth and Family Services (HYFS), located in Hoyleton, Ill., were both founded as homes for children in 1895 as separate ministries of the German Evangelical Church, a forerunner of today’s United Church of Christ. The two organizations began their affiliation in July 1999 in a move that strengthened both organizations financially and operationally.

Lifelink is taking the strategic step of divesting some of its programs, including Hoyleton, to focus on providing affordable housing services in Illinois, Missouri and Florida. This will strengthen Lifelink and allow it to expand its housing services to meet the tremendous need for those programs.

As a result of this disaffiliation, Cox has been appointed the president and CEO of HYFS and its affiliates. “We are excited to have the opportunity to continue our legacy of providing for the needs of children and families in Southwestern Illinois, and look forward to serving them for many years to come,” Cox said.

Hoyleton Children’s Home remains at the core of HYFS’s services. From its beginnings as an orphanage, the home has evolved into a residential treatment facility for youths experiencing developmental disabilities and exhibiting behavioral disorders. Hoyleton’s other services include: Foster Care, the Seeds of Success Family Advocacy program, Transitional Housing and Life Skills Training for homeless families, Community Integrated Living Arrangements, Counseling, and Project Safe Date.

As an HYFS affiliate, Puentes de Esperanza serves a growing Hispanic community in Southwestern Illinois, with services that include Outreach and Advocacy, Head Start for Migrant and Seasonal families, Domestic Violence Prevention, its Women’s Health Initiative, and its Teen REACH after-school program. The Hoyleton Children’s Home Foundation exists to develop the resources needed to support and further the ministries of Hoyleton Youth and Family Services and Puentes de Esperanza.

“Lifelink is honored to have served jointly with Hoyleton for eleven years and knows Hoyleton is well  positioned to continue its 115-year history of ministry serving vulnerable children and families,” Rhodes said.

For more information on Lifelink’s affordable housing programs, contact Lifelink at 630-766-3570.

For more information on Hoyleton’s ministries, contact Hoyleton at 618-493-7382.

Federal Dollars to Help Lifelink Save on Energy Costs

The federal stimulus program aims to spur spending, but at CHHSM member Lifelink, a nonprofit provider of affordable housing for seniors and disabled adults, some of those dollars are being invested to cut spending on energy costs.

Lifelink has received a $3 million federal grant to improve the “green” aspects of five of its communities, two in Florida, two in Chicago and one in Kansas City. The properties range in size from 24 to 80 apartments.

Starting in September, the funds will support an 11-month effort to upgrade windows, install new roofing, reduce storm water runoff from parking lots, buy new energy efficient appliances, convert to water-saving toilets, and add rooftop solar energy systems that will power the entire common area of two buildings.

Tim Rhodes, Lifelink’s president and CEO, says of the eventual savings from more energy efficient buildings, “That’s more money we can put into caring for seniors and disabled adults who are in need.”

Based in Oak Brook, Ill., Lifelink currently owns, operates, and provides consulting assistance to 35 affordable housing facilities located in Florida, Illinois and Missouri.

Susan Sinderson, a Lifelink vice president, says of the grant, “The exciting thing is Lifelink has always had a commitment to sustainable building, and this has given us a chance to do energy upgrades that would have taken years of saving up the funds to do it ourselves.”

Other CHHSM nonprofits are making similar innovations.

Pilgrim Place, a senior community in Claremont, Calif., expects to become the first freestanding retirement community in the U.S. to have three of its new buildings become LEED-certified, an internationally recognized green building certification system that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., Pilgrim Manor Retirement Community sharply reduced its energy use and carbon footprint by installing 750 compact fluorescent light bulbs and developed a campuswide recycling program in conjunction with the city of Grand Rapids.

At Lifelink, Sinderson says residents welcome changes that will not only save money but also help the environment.

“They say everybody talks about this now, but it’s not new to them,” Sinderson says, “They didn’t grow up in a throwaway world.”

For instance, she notes, residents of one Lifelink property, Greencastle of Bayonet Point in Port Richey, Fla., collect their used cooking oil and donate it for use in municipal vehicles that run on the oil.

While the changes fit with old-time frugality, the grant will affect how Lifelink addresses green issues well into the future, Sinderson said.

The grant requires use of environmentally friendly chemicals and materials and 16 hours annually of staff training focused on energy savings and protecting the environment.

For Rhodes, the grant helps Lifelink take a natural next step.

“We see this as an extension of our ministry with the United Church of Christ,” Rhodes says. “We will be leaders in creating a sustainable environment for persons to participate in and educate others about the necessity and the efficacy of sustainable environments.”