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Community Corner

Genevans Randy and Sue Sycks Hold Memorial Golf Classic Sept. 10 at Eagle Brook

Won't you help by playing? Funds fight heroin abuse and other substance abuse.

On Sept. 10, for the final time, the Josh Sycks Memorial Golf Classic will tee off to benefit the Behavioral Health Services Center in Elgin, a substance abuse treatment program of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI). The finale will take place at the in Geneva.

The event is named for Josh Sycks who became addicted to heroin in his late teens. Frantic, his parents—Randy and Sue Sycks of Geneva—tried to get him into treatment at LSSI’s Elgin Center, but tragically, no bed was available. Josh died of an overdose in 2002 at the age of 20.

“We had to do something so that the same thing didn’t happen to someone else’s son,” says Randy. So, the couple began a golf fundraiser on behalf of LSSI treatment services in memory of their son. As a result, this event has raised more than $400,000 for the Elgin Center during the past decade.

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“This money has really assisted us in providing residential treatment to individuals who normally couldn’t afford it,” says Joseph Paul, program director at the Elgin Center. “It’s enabled us to reach more people with our programs than we would otherwise be able to do.”

Established in 1991, the Elgin Center helps people who are struggling with addiction, giving them a chance to learn a new way to live, without drugs or alcohol. Since then, it has served more than 10,000 individuals. It offers a highly successful, four-week residential treatment program for men and women. After completing the program, individuals can either return home,
if it is an environment that is supportive to their recovery, or go to live at a halfway house or recovery home. The Elgin site also offers a men’s halfway house on its premises.

In Illinois, an estimated 975,000 persons, age 18 and older, are directly affected by alcohol or other substance abuse. Unfortunately, there are a limited number of treatment programs available today, and funding for those programs —primarily by the state and federal government through Medicaid—is being threatened by budget cuts. The estimated cost of one day of treatment
at the LSSI’s Elgin Center is $200.

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Cost to participate in the golf outing is $250 per person and includes lunch, 18 holes of golf, dinner and auctions. A non-golfing guest may attend the cocktail reception, dinner and auction for $60. One of the “live auction” items will be a set of four Medinah Club members’ tickets to the opening day of the Ryder Cup Tournament on Friday, Sept. 28. These tickets cannot be purchased
anywhere, since they are member tickets. Online, the tickets for Sept. 28 are going for more than $500 each.

To register or get more information on the golf outing, contact Ed Newton at 847/635-4656, or at Edward.Newton@LSSI.org. Participants can also register online at www.LSSI.org.

About Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI)

Founded in October 1867, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) is a statewide, not-for-profitsocial service agency of the three Illinois synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.LSSI serves people through an array of services at 85 sites across Illinois. LSSI’s services includefoster care, adoption, pregnancy counseling, Head Start, child care services, services for at-riskfamilies, residential services for youth, counseling, mental health, substance abuse treatment,residential programs for adults with developmental disabilities, housing and services for olderadults and individuals with disabilities, nursing care and rehabilitation, and programs for prisonersand their families. For additional information, please visit www.LSSI.org or LSSI’s Facebook page.

 

SOURCE: Lutheran Social Services of Illinois press release

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