Mothers Trust a ‘godsend’ to children in crisis
By Judy Masterson jmasterson@stmedianetwork.com December 2, 2011 9:18PM
Cheryl Coleman of North Chicago sorts coats for the Mothers Trust Teens annual coat drive. | Joe Shuman~Sun-Times Media
Mothers Trust Foundation
400 E. Illinois Road, Lake Forest
(847) 482-9189
www.motherstrustfoundation.org
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Updated: February 1, 2012 1:56AM
Julie Wendorf decided that when she retired from her career as a Zion school administrator, she would volunteer for a group that had been a “godsend” to her students.
Seven years later, Wendorf is president of the board of directors for the Lake Forest-based Mothers Trust Foundation, which provides emergency funds to children in crisis in Lake County.
“We’re really the agency of last resort,” said Wendorf, who noted that schools, townships and other social welfare organizations turn to Mothers Trust.
Established in 1998, Mothers Trust has granted more than $1.2 million to more than 14,000 kids for things like new glasses, medications, and school uniforms. It was inundated at the beginning of the 2011 school year.
“We received more than 70 requests each week,” Wendorf said. “One month we gave $16,000. We’re approaching $200,000 in grants this year.”
One of seven agencies that will benefit from the Lake County News-Sun’s 2011 Help Them to Hope holiday campaign, Mothers Trust has found a way to give more bang to more bucks by partnering with other agencies that each ship-in a portion to help families pay a utility bill, scrape-up a security deposit, afford a car repair.
“The needs have been great for a long time, but they have increased dramatically this year” Wendorf said. “We’re getting requests from across Lake County. We’ve seen an incredible increase in homeless families, people who need to get into housing. It’s been extremely rewarding to work with our service partners so that we can make an even bigger difference.”
Mother’s Trust cooperates with more than 100 partner agencies including Catholic Charities, YWCA, YMCA, UCAN, One Hope United, A Safe Place, PADS, DHS DCFS, schools, and various townships.
“We haven’t established relationships with everybody we could, but we’re working on it,” Wendorf said.
Volunteers meet every Wednesday morning to review requests and make grants. A blog on the agency’s Web site reports their decisions.
Just before Thanksgiving, 14 requests totaling $3,589 were granted. A mother of two, fleeing an abusive relationship, needed help with a security deposit. A 14-year-old girl being raised by her dad had outgrown her clothes. A homeless family of three — the father was deceased — needed beds for their new home.
Mothers Trust does not fulfill every request. On Nov. 22, it denied two.
“The help we offer has to be sustainable,” Wendorf said.
But some requests can only offer the hope of sustainability, like the 17-year-old homeless couch-surfer who needed money for transportation and clothes.
“It’s hard to think of a boy that age pretty much on his own — fending for himself,” Wendorf said.
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