Substance Abuse Counselor Delores Lane and the rest of the GEO Reentry Services team at Chatham Reentry Services Center in Chicago hosted a back-to-school event to help local children start the 2018 school year. Staff at the Chatham Reentry Services Center collected 40 backpacks filled with school supplies for children in the surrounding Chicago community, as well as the children of participants in the non-residential reentry program.
Lane took the lead role of chairperson for the event, securing multiple donations from the community, Illinois Department of Corrections employees and her GEO Reentry teammates. Through these coordinated efforts, the Chatham Reentry Services Center team secured over 40 backpacks filled with school supplies for local children to start off the school year prepared for success. In addition, Case Manager Cedric Miller brought in movies for the children to watch while Education Coordinator Kayla Woodland passed out popcorn, chips and water. Case Manager Tytianna Mathews treated the children to bags of sweet treats. There were also crayons and coloring materials for all the children who wished to express their creativity through art.
This event wouldn’t have been possible without Case Manager Jataun Hilton and Client Support Specialist Dwayne Murphy. Together, they did an outstanding job managing the front of the GEO office while the event took place. Staff members Mr. Hilton and Mr. Murphy were essential to the overall success of the event by checking participants in, completing intake, and serving as key resources for any issues or questions that arose throughout the event.
The success of this event was built on teamwork, generosity and a desire to give back to the community. Program Manager Janet Szydelko, reflecting on the fundraiser and the efforts of the team at Chatham Reentry Services Center, said, “They made this program manager very proud to be a part of this office.”
Read more about our non-residential reentry programming and get the latest news from other GEO Reentry centers.