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Daycare Center Gives Gospel Message New Meaning
CHICAGO, IL (June 3, 2002) - The Ravenswood Community Child Care Center (RC4)
held its grand opening last Saturday at Ravenswood Evangelical Covenant
Church, culminating a process that began in 1998.
Eugene Schulter, 47th Ward alderman in Chicago, participated in
ribbon-cutting ceremonies Saturday morning. RC4 is expected to open its
doors next month after final building details are finished, said Ravenswood
Pastor Bryan Kletzing. An initial group of approximately 45 children is
anticipated.
The daycare center construction included upgrades for three daycare
classrooms, a handicap-accessible bathroom, a modified kitchen facility and
a play lot in the church's parking lot area.
Other guests included Marcia Brown, Head Start representative for the
Chicago Public Schools; Rev. George Rice of the Sulzer Family Foundation;
Advocate Healthcare Foundation representative Marion Sitkiewicz; Rev.
Delois Brown-Daniels, vice president of mission and spiritual care for
Illinois Masonic Hospital; and Ted and Chris Mackray Brownstein and Carol
Mackray Donahoe of the Mackray Family Foundation, which donated $200,000 to
RC4 in February.
"We know the challenge of having good, decent people taking care of our
kids," said Schulter in a greeting to more than 200 assembled for the grand
opening. "Thank you for doing something so positive for our community."
Adrienne Edlen is the executive director of RC4, which has received
$125,000 of funding through the Illinois Department of Commerce and
Community Affairs and the office of Illinois Sen. Lisa Madigan, as well as
more than $75,000 from the Advocate Healthcare Group and $50,000 from Glen
Kullander, a former youth group participant at the church.
It has taken nearly five years to construct and finance the project, said
Kletzing. Walter "Bud" Hodgkinson, RC4's funding director, recounted the
history of RC4, stating that the idea of a daycare center was conceived in
1973 when the church built a Christian education wing. In 1998, Kletzing
and principal Ed Klunke of nearby Amundsen High School began discussing a
partnership for a cooperative youth option for the children of teenage
parents.
Eventually, a committee was formed to explore the idea further. It included
Edlen and Ravenswood Evangelical Covenant Church parishioner Don
Hodgkinson, an attorney, along with Brenda Banner from Amundsen High's
health care clinic (sponsored by Ravenswood Hospital); Marie Maslowski,
director of Health and Education at Advocate; and Kathy Kern of the nearby
Ravenswood Hospital Day Care. In November 1999, the church voted to start
the daycare center and it received 501c tax status shortly thereafter.
The project received leadership from architect John Kelly, project
coordinator Ted Luca and play lot construction specialist Sean Heath of
Chicago Cares and Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago. An eight-member
RC4 board includes Ravenswood Covenant parishioners Dan
deRoulet (chair), Audrey Hodgkinson, Kris Sahlberg and Edlen along with
Paula Belisle, Maslowski, Kern and Banner.
"For an urban church to be vital in this new century it has to be
organically connected to the neighborhood it wants to reach," said
Kletzing. "What better way than with a partnership that draws people into
the network of the gospel. What makes this program such a miracle is that
it's a win-win for everyone involved. And it has brought a spiritual
vitality to the church and its people. I've seen the footprints of Christ
all through the circumstances that have brought people together in this
community. It's obviously a miracle of God and not the efforts of any one
person."
For more information about RC4, call Edlen at 773-784-7091, extension 25 or
email her at RC4cares@yahoo.com.
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