Each year, Arden Shore serves a diverse population of about 1,500 clients in Lake County.
Their services unite families and help children overcome abuse and neglect.
What: Arden Shore Child and Family Services’ second annual Evening of Elegance will feature a gourmet dinner with wine pairings from Café Pyrenees Restaurant and Duckhorn Vineyards, cocktails, silent and live wine auctions, dancing and raffles. Guests can further tour the magnificent Sanfilippo Estate, home to the world’s largest collection of music boxes.
This year’s honorary chairs are James Beard Award winner Art Smith of Table 52 and international artist and painter Jesus Salgueiro.
Where: Sanfilippo Estate, 789 Plum Tree Rd., Barrington
When: Saturday, Nov. 2, 5–11:30 p.m.
How: Proceeds from this event will go toward Arden Shore Headquarters and Family Center in fulfillment of its mission of rebuilding children’s lives. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 847-623-1730 ext. 127.
The organization: In 1898, members of the Glencoe Congregational Church formed a tent city overlooking Lake Michigan, offering summer respite and healthy-living camping experiences for Chicago’s impoverished mothers and children. Over the years, the organization expanded past its summer camp, maintaining its traditional commitment to meeting family needs while growing its resources. Officially incorporated in 1906 as a nonprofit, Arden Shore purchased a permanent site the following year. The expansive grounds, featuring 24 acres on Lake Michigan, just one mile north of Lake Bluff, was host to Arden Shore until the mid-1990s, when, responding to the shift of the state away from large institutional residences, the organization sold the property.
In recent years, societal and economic changes resulted in more children entering the welfare system, many suffering severe abuse or neglect. Arden Shore worked with these changes, tailoring its care to help children improve their ability to function in daily life and succeed in education or vocational skills. Arden Shore today operates a 24-hour community-based group home in Waukegan for boys with serious emotional and behavioral problems. Most of these young men have experienced trauma that has significantly contributed to an inability to function in normal family and community settings. Additionally, Arden Shore offers foster care; in-home counseling services to provide mental health services to children and their families in their Lake County homes; family preservation programs designed to keep families intact; bilingual child welfare services for Latino families; and health education and prevention programs.
Following a merger in 2003 with Family Services of North Lake County, Arden Shore began providing general counseling services for individuals, couples and families. Now a United Way-funded agency, the organization operates its new headquarters in Waukegan. Its mission remains rooted in its earliest foundation: Arden Shore works to rebuild children’s lives in a caring community, overcoming abuse or neglect, trauma and mental illness and uniting families.
