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Covenant Children's Home to Suspend Current Operations
PRINCETON, IL (June 25, 2001) - The Board of Directors of Covenant Children's Home announced today that all programs and services of the organization will be suspended, effective August 31. The Board of Directors made this decision at its regularly scheduled meeting Saturday in Princeton.
The decision was reached following a comprehensive planning process over the past six months to identify possible new services. The Rev. Bernie Windmiller, board chair, said that there were too many financial uncertainties in the submitted plan to support approval. The board, with the concurrence of Covenant's parent organization, Covenant Ministries of Benevolence, decided it would be best to suspend all operations at this time.
During the past year, a number of changes have occurred in the programs. The agency's residential program was discontinued in June 2000 and most of the services provided by Covenant Counseling were transferred to other organizations in November 2000. A number of factors, including changing needs, inadequate funding streams and shifting priorities in the child welfare system, contributed to these decisions.
Windmiller stressed that there are no plans at this time to sell any portion of the campus in Princeton. Harold Spooner, vice president of outreach ministries for Covenant Ministries of Benevolence, emphasized that the agency will continue to exist as a corporate entity with the same Board of Directors. However, it will take some time to determine what ministries will be started on the Princeton campus.
David Lundberg, executive director for the past 15 years, noted that the children's home programs have been supported by many generous people over the 80-year history of the organization. They include employees, contributors, volunteers and churches. Noting change often is inevitable, Lundberg likened the current change to the end of a chapter in a Covenant Children's Home book, rather than the end of the book. Windmiller expressed the gratitude of the Board of Directors to those who have made the services possible during the course of its history. The lives of many have been impacted.
Covenant Children's Home was founded in 1921 by the Central Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church as a place for children from difficult homes. In the 1950's, adoption and foster care services were started. In the 1970's Covenant became a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed youth. Community services, under the name of Covenant Counseling Services, were added in 1974.
Lundberg said that arrangements are being made to transfer the responsibility for all existing services to other organizations. Those services include homemaker services to at-risk families, the Communities CAN! substance abuse prevention program, and school-based counseling services to at-risk students. Details of those plans are will be finalized in the next month.
The existing staff of the organization will be affected in various ways. Some will go with the services to other organizations, and a skeletal staff may remain beyond August 31 to implement continuing basic functions. The administrative staff, including Lundberg, will have their employment terminated as of that date.
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