Island of Safety? Splendid!

 Holiday Charitable Giving Donation #2

Crisis Nursery creates an "Island of Safety" dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect by providing 24-hour emergency care for children and support to strengthen families in crisis.  It is the only emergency-based child care facility open 24 hours, 365 days a year for the entire community to access with no fees, income eligibility or waiting list.  

One of the things about Crisis Nursery that really struck me was the line on their website, “Asking for help is a sign of strength.”  So often asking for help is perceived as a weakness.  If you were strong, you wouldn’t need help, right?  This is a sentiment that I have struggled with for a long time.  It’s often hard for me to ask for help on the big stuff until I’m in way over my head.  Killing bugs? I’ll ask for your help immediately.  Reaching something on a top shelf?  I’ll call you into a different room on a different floor before trying to stand on a rolling desk chair or rickety ladder.  Completely overwhelmed by professional workload, personal responsibilities, family obligations, and self-imposed ridiculously high standards?  You probably won’t even know this is an issue for me unless you’re part of the very select few who has had front row seats to one of my spectacular meltdowns.

Parenting can be tough (so I’ve been told), and when it becomes too overwhelming, Crisis Nursery is there to help by taking care of the children.  In addition to being 24-hour emergency child care, they also have programs to strengthen families and contacts with other community resources to help families get back on their feet.  How fortunate the parents in Champaign-Urbana are that they have this incredible resource available.

They accept donations of goods from a wish list as well as monetary donations which can be made securely on their website.  Donations of goods and supplies can be made in person Monday-Friday 8am-5pm at the facility.