Photo: Kraft Representatives Presenting YSB with $16,653 Check
From Left: Jason Keeler, YSB Assistant Executive Director, Jeanne Swanson YSB Director of Delinquency Intervention Programs, Norma Ihnatiuk, Cynthia Berigan, Glenda O’Brien and Meghan McIlroy of Kraft Foods.
Norma Ihnatiuk and Glenda O’Brien are from the Kraft plant that makes Claussen Pickles in Woodstock IL, and Cynthia Berigan and Meghan McIlroy represent the Kraft Employee Fund Leadership Council.
Youth Learn Life Skills Using Horse Sense at YSB Thanks to Kraft Employee Fund Grant
YSB has received a $16,653 grant from the Kraft Employee Fund of Chicago: a workplace-giving program supported by contributions from Kraft employees across the Chicagoland area.
Kraft Foods also makes a major corporate contribution to the Fund.
The grant money will be used for training and certification of YSB staff, Light Center staff and juvenile probation officers in Truthought Corrective Thinking and Equine Assisted Learning. It also covers 50 equine assisted learning sessions at the Light Center in Union: a farm that serves developmentally or behaviorally challenged individuals and at-risk youth. The youth who are in the YSB Day Reporting Center will be working through problems, building confidence, self-esteem and learning life skills as a result of this innovative program. The Kraft employees presented the check to YSB, talked about the program, and toured the Day Reporting Center on 6/29.
Jeanne Swanson, YSB Director of Delinquency Intervention Programs, has 18 years of experience in working with at-risk youth, is already certified in this special training and has been working with youth and horses for 4 years.
The YSB Day Reporting Center is a program for court-ordered youth that provides daily support, career exploration, job skill development, counseling, and equine therapy. The goal of the DRC is to break patterns of delinquent behaviors and replace them with positive life competencies. Truthought LLC is the Nation's leading provider of Corrective Thinking™ and Criminal Thinking Seminars and Resources. It has proven effective for prevention and intervention in influencing behavioral changes with at risk populations. Truthought LLC recently filmed a video at the Day Reporting Center for a national training program.
Jeanne Swanson talking with Kraft representatives about equine assisted learning at YSB. Kraft representatives visited YSB to learn more about the Day Reporting Center, tour the facility, and present the grant check.
