Cunningham Children's Home 125 Years

1895 – 2020

Cunningham
Children’s Home

125 Years

By Stephanie B. Lynge and Pam Mathews

For their work on making this book a reality,
Cunningham Children’s Home thanks:

Stephanie B. Lynge (research/writing)
Pam Mathews (research/writing)
Tina Dechausay (editing/layout)
Sharla Jolly (research)
Cheryl Kennedy (research)

and the wonderful Cunningham staff

hope begins here.In their own words...

May 1952 BREEZES from the hilltop - Mrs. Sarah English, Superintendent
“When you can for Cunningham this summer, we would especially appreciate mixed vegetables for
soup (corn, carrots, peas). Pickles, whole tomatoes and berries are also welcome. We will gladly
furnish half-gallon jars for canning.”

March 1957 BREEZES from the hilltop - Candus Smith, Cunningham housemother
Candus said to Peter who was standing by the window during a bad storm, “Peter, don’t stand so
near the window. The storm is so bad.” Peter said, “I am not watching the storm, I am waiting for
the rainbow.”

1969 Annual Report - Connie McGill, Cunningham Board President
“A Better Tomorrow - these three words which appear on the cover pages of Cunningham’s new
brochure - states very simply that children at Cunningham can experience faith in themselves, hope
for the future and love from those around them.”

Mrs. Roy. L. Christopher, Cunningham Board Member (1963-1967)
“My dream for the future of Cunningham is that they will continue to counsel troubled children in
finding their place in the world.”

Mrs. Howard Kinkley, WSCS Board Member (1970’s)
“Love has always been the cornerstone of our care. Techniques, tools and facilities must complement
and enhance that love.”

Rev. Michael F. Eischen, Cunningham Chaplain
“New beginnings mean that God is with us; this will keep us from being afraid as we step out into the
unknown, for God is always at the beginning of every good thing.”

IN MEMORY OF JUDGE JOE AND MARY CUNNINGHAM
AND DEDICATED TO THE YOUTH, ADULTS AND

FAMILIES SERVED BY CUNNINGHAM CHILDREN’S HOME.

COPYRIGHT MAY 2021

-1-
The Beginning

The Gift

December 6, 1894, From Judge Joseph O. Cunningham’s Personal Journal:
“This day my wife [Mary] and myself submitted to the Deaconess
Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church Illinois Annual Conference a
proposition to give our very dear and beautiful home [“The Cedars”]
to the Church as a Deaconess and Children’s Home to be managed
by the Woman’s Home Missionary Society in Illinois (WHMS-IL).
This home we have occupied, improved and beautified for near
25 years, but it is more than we need
for our comfort, and the great [needs] of
homeless and friendless children called
[us] strongly to [these] sympathetic ones
for such an institution.”

The Warranty Deed

On December 6, 1894, the Cunninghams made the
proposal of their intention to gift their home, The
Cedars, and 15 acres of surrounding property, to
take care of “homeless and friendless” children.

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This decision reflected their personal devotion to the
church, their commitment to caring for those in need,
and their trust in the Woman’s Home Missionary Society
in Illinois (WHMS-IL) of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
On January 31, 1895, Joseph and Mary Cunningham
made their gift through a warranty deed which stated:
“We therefore first make you (WHMS-IL) the offer to
convey this property, our beloved home for a quarter
century, as a free gift to the Woman’s Home Missionary
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to receive
the title and administer the trust…”
A codicil to the warranty deed specified that if the
Home was not used for the purposes of helping needy
children, the Cunningham heirs could make a legal
claim upon this property. This created a living trust
between the Cunninghams and the WHMS-IL to
care for children in perpetuity. With this, the
organizational life of Cunningham Children’s
Home began.

Judge Joseph and Mary Cunningham—A Brief History

In 1852, the 22-year-old Joseph Cunningham came “out west” from Ohio and began his
grade school teaching career in Eugene, Indiana. His dear Mary, whom he had met when
they both studied at Oberlin College Prepeparatory School, remained “back east” in
Bainbridge, Ohio. Mary was also a teacher and a self-assured woman. She shared Joseph’s
strong belief in being useful and helping others.
As Joseph’s second semester began in January 1853, he wrote in his journal that I…”am
glad to enter again upon the humble duties of the pedagogue; to me time passes much

pleasanter when I am engaged in something useful; [and later
he wrote]…has my time been improved as well as it might?
Have I done as much good and benefitted (people) as much
as I might? These are questions…which I ponder much, and
resolve to do more to improve my time in study or teaching.”
Joseph’s life-long journaling gives us some insight into his
character. Even at his young age he was a thoughtful man,
curious about the world and everything in it, and he was
hungry to learn all of the time. Politics and history were his
special interests, and in June 1853, Joseph made the decision
to move to Urbana, Illinois, to begin working for the Urbana
Union newspaper writing political editorials. It wasn’t long
until he and a partner purchased the paper and he became

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the editor. In October 1853, Joseph and Mary wed. He brought his dear Mary from
“civilized” Ohio to the rich Illinois Plains where they made their home in the town of
Urbana and where they quickly became an active part of the overall community.
Over the years, Joseph Cunningham, with Mary’s support, became one of Champaign
County’s most influential citizens. In addition to owning the newspaper, his interest in legal
matters drew him to study law and in 1856 he was admitted to the bar. In 1861, he was
elected Champaign County Judge. He rode the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Illinois which
included 14 counties spread over 400 miles. This was the same circuit that Abraham Lincoln
traveled, and at times their paths crossed. Judge Cunningham shared his “memories of the
younger Abraham Lincoln as he saw him in the early days of Champaign County…
attending court, walking…as he passed along the streets in Urbana from the Urbana Hotel
to the Court.”

Judge Cunningham was a leader in the Republican Party in Champaign County and was
influential in locating the new state university [Industrial University of Illinois] in Urbana. He
also served as a member of the first Board of Trustees from 1867-1873. During this time,
the university name was changed to University of Illinois. The Judge “…introduced a
resolution that was enacted in 1870 to open [the University’s] courses to women.” He also
served as instructor and lecturer on commercial law from 1871-1875. In 1880, Judge
Cunningham was admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court.

In 1870, Joseph and Mary purchased their
country home “The Cedars” [the future
Cunningham Children’s Home] which was
“considered to be the most beautiful home
in Champaign County. The Cedars was
named for the double row of Cedar trees
which lined the road leading from the main
road (today’s Cunningham Avenue) up to
the entrance of the house.” Some of these
trees can still be seen on the Cunningham
campus. The home had been built in 1864
and “was nestled in a grove of trees
on a hill, a two-story brick with mansard
roof. Judge Cunningham described the
house as having 14 rooms, three halls,
bathroom, cellar and ice house. Adjoining
this were a three-room gardener’s cottage,
ample barns with carriage rooms, three
wells, three cisterns, steel windmill, pump
and elevated water tank.” In addition, there
may have been a duck pond with a row boat
at the front of the house.

Joseph and Mary loved their community and
their Urbana Methodist Episcopal Church. In
both 1886 and 1900, Joseph was elected as

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a lay delegate to the church’s General Conference. He and Mary shared a strong conviction
that Methodists should do more to minister to the needy in their midst. So Joseph
introduced motions during both conferences for the establishment of welfare ministries
throughout the denomination to care for the sick, the aged and needy children. His motions
precipitated later actions by the church to establish these ministries.
In 1907, “Mary and the Judge gave to the Urbana Park District 15 acres of their property of
what came to be known Crystal Lake Park...The citizens of Urbana were very [fond of them]
and very appreciative of their having lived among them.”
After Judge Cunningham’s death in 1917, the Township in the city of Urbana was named
Cunningham Township; and the name of the road on Route 45 which passes the
Cunningham Children’s Home was named Cunningham Avenue in honor of and in
loving memory of Judge Joseph Cunningham.

Today—hope begins here

Joseph and Mary Cunningham’s gift of their home was a gift of compassion, hope and love
for the needy children in their community. Since 1895 and through this day in 2020,
Cunningham continues to keep the promise made to Mary and Joseph by the Woman’s
Home Missionary Society: “that [their] home shall forever be kept as a Children’s Home,
hoping and praying that it shall in some degree turn attention to the pressing demands in
our midst, for the care and nurture of our own.”
Throughout these 125 years, Cunningham Children’s Home, the United Methodist Women
and caring supporters have seen and responded to the changes in society. These changes
have brought many new and different challenges in the “great needs” that Joseph and Mary
spoke of. Cunningham Children’s Home continues today, and will continue into the future to
meet these changes and challenges in caring for the children, youth, adults and families
turning to Cunningham for help and hope.

hope begins here.

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The Early Years

1895—1933

From the very beginning and to this day there have been, and are,
three constants in the history of Cunningham Children’s Home:
1. Children and families in need;
2. United Methodist Women as keepers of the Trust; and
3. Changing and increasing demands on resources.

A Special Relationship

In 1880, the national Woman’s Home Missionary Society (WHMS) was founded within the
Methodist Episcopal Church. The WHMS was part of the
19th century “development of powerful women’s
organizations designed to be autonomous and to draw the
women of the church together in bonds of sisterhood.” The
WHMS-Illinois was founded in 1885 in Bloomington, Illinois.
When, in 1894, Joseph and Mary Cunningham selected the
WHMS-IL women to be the stewards of their mission to care
for children in need, it was not an easy thing to accomplish.
But the Cunninghams trusted that these women would do the work needed to succeed.
First, the WHMS women had to make the very serious decision to accept the property and
the possibly daunting charge to be responsible for the children who would come to that
home for hope and care. Then, a legal entity had to be created to operate the home. These
women, who received the Cunningham’s gift, did so with the faith that the women who would
in the future follow them in Christian service would uphold that commitment.
The Cunningham gift led to the incorporation of the WHMS in the state of Illinois. A
constitution was adopted in 1895, the Conference’s operations became more organized,
and Cunningham Deaconess Home and Orphanage became a subsidiary of the WHMS-IL.
In 1896, a local Board of Managers, elected by the membership to represent them, began its
work in administering the affairs of the Home. Today, the United Methodist Women (UMW) of
the Illinois Great Rivers Conference (IGRC) are the stewards of the original commitment.

5

The Beginning

In the beginning, there were two missions the
Cunninghams wished to serve which were reflected in
the Home’s original name, the Cunningham Deaconess
Home and Orphanage. In October 1895, the now
incorporated WHMS-IL opened Cunningham’s doors
as an orphanage to provide custodial care for
dependent children from the Central Illinois and
West Central Indiana geographic areas.
The Illinois Conference Deaconess Board appointed
a Cunningham Board of nine women, all of whom
were members of the WHMS-IL, to oversee the
administration of the newly-created organization. Taking
this appointment was a serious commitment for these
women. They would have to travel long distances to
and from the Home by horse and buggy, and would be
totally responsible for overseeing the administration of the Home. These women accepted
the challenge.
The Board’s first job was to remodel the Home to accommodate its new missions. They called

upon each auxiliary within the WHMS-IL
to furnish part of the Home and raise the
funds to accomplish this. Auxiliaries from
Urbana, Champaign, Decatur, Savoy,
Springfield, Farmer City, Danville and
Bloomington answered the call and
prepared the Home for its new mission.
In the beginning, Cunningham was not
only an orphanage. It also served as a base
for trained Deaconesses of the Church to
evangelize and minister to the poor, and
the Board also hired these Deaconesses as
child care workers.
The children lived in the Home, sleeping
in large dormitories grouped by age
and gender. Referrals came from many
sources—family members, pastors,
members of the community, local WHMS
auxiliaries and Illinois Conference
Deaconesses.
Cunningham also accepted children placed
there by local counties. The Board of
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Managers agreed to accept county
children as long as Cunningham received
the rate the supervisors would pay their
county home. At this time the Illinois relief
system was decentralized; it depended
upon private charities to provide social
welfare relief and often used private
institutions for child placements. In 1898,
Cunningham asked the county supervisor
to pay $1.87 per child per week unless the
county provided a child’s shoes which
lowered the cost to $1.75 per child per week.
Few of the children brought to Cunningham were true orphans, lacking both parents. The
majority of them, ranging in age from infant to 12 years old, came from households whose
parents were in need of some help (caused by the death or desertion of one parent, divorce,
sickness, etc.) and who could not provide for their children within the family setting. These
children were brought to Cunningham by family members who, after short periods of time,
returned to retrieve them. In this era of child care, it was a matter of policy that boys who
reached the age of 12 would be returned to their families, indentured or transferred to
other facilities.

Changes Come to Cunningham

As early as 1897, Cunningham Hall, the new name for “The Cedars,” received its first
endowment gift. This was used to build the first additions to the original home—a large
dormitory and nursery. Other additions to Cunningham Hall over several years included
a kindergarten and school room on the first floor of the Home and a boys dormitory on

7

the second floor, both of which were
financed by Cunningham’s portion of the
Methodist Episcopal Church’s 20th Century
Thank Offering.
In addition to meeting the new living
accommodation needs for the children,
the Board had to deal with the fact that the
primary focus of Deaconess Homes was first
and foremost to serve as bases for trained
Deaconesses of the Church to go into the
community to evangelize and minister to the
poor—not to serve only as child care workers.
By 1906, there was a chronic shortage of Deaconesses to fill child care positions. As a result,
the Board began hiring local employees to take care of Cunningham’s children. In 1910, the
Board took three bold steps:

1. changed the Home’s name to Cunningham Children’s Home;
2. incorporated in order to accept gifts and bequests;
3. and, made Cunningham solely a Children’s Home.
These choices and their commitment to pay more attention to the children’s needs was
inevitable for these reasons:
1. WHMS-IL members were dedicated to helping the children;
2. the function of the Deaconess Home was rejected as part of Cunningham’s

mission;
3. by the terms of the warranty deed, the WHMS-IL could lose the property rights

should the mission to serve children fail.
Cunningham continued to grow and to meet changing needs. At this time, the Home was
not in the Urbana School District, and Cunningham was not able to cover the school fees that
would be charged for their many young children. Thankfully, in 1911, Sheldon Hall was built
from funds donated by Judge J.C. Sheldon, half-brother of Judge Joseph Cunningham. The
Hall provided classrooms on the premises for pre-school through eighth grade children and

8

a small hospital/isolation space. At this time,
Cunningham seldom had high school age
youth in their care, and these youth attended
Urbana High School as Cunningham could
manage the few fees needed. Over the years,
Sheldon Hall would house a nursery, boys and
girls dormitories, and administrative offices.

In 1912, the Board issued a policy that
corporal punishment could not be given by
workers, and recommended the withholding
of privileges as the preferred method of
punishment. The Board also created a
structured set of policies for life within the Home which sketched out and regimented
children’s and worker’s activities.

By 1915, Cunningham was home to A Day in the Life of the
51 children—16 boys ranging from Children and Workers—1912
4-12 years old and 35 girls ranging
from 9 weeks-16 years old. Twenty- 5:30 a.m. Rising bell
four of the girls were in the home on 6:00 a.m. Girls assigned to dining room/
scholarships furnished by churches kitchen duty report to work
or WHMS auxiliaries. And by 1916, 6:30 a.m. Younger children in charge of
Cunningham was home to 14 head dormitory girls report for
matrons, 23 girls and 37 boys. breakfast
Walter Worthley Goodhue, age 7 Workers are to oversee all of these activities and are to
1/2, and his brother Sargent came to be prompt for meals
Cunningham with their mother Nettie 7:00 a.m. All workers attend morning
Goodhue in 1915. Nettie and her devotions
husband had separated and she 9:30 a.m. Workers get their rooms and
needed some help; so she applied for dormitories ready for inspection
a job at Cunningham and was hired (visitors are allowed to tour the
as a matron for the older girls. The building from 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
boys and their mother lived at daily, except Sunday)
Cunningham for six years (1915- 9:30—11:30 a.m. Younger children take naps
1921). Later in his life, Walter wrote to Workers get supplies for the day
Cunningham saying that he had liked Noon—Dinner is served
the country setting, the other boys Afternoon—School and chores
and girls, the fun they had and even 5:30 p.m. Supper
the jobs they had to do. He added 6:30 p.m. Youngest children retire
that the fun “included occasional 7:30 p.m. Older boys and girls retire
visits to the pool at Crystal Lake Park Workers on their own time—maintain quiet so as not to
and catching crawdads in the Bone disturb the children
Yard Creek. I also would harness the 9:00 p.m. Workers retire, with lights out at
horse and drive it to the train station 9:30 p.m.

9

(now the Station Theater) to pick up
luggage and trunks…The
Cunningham community came
around us for support.”
During this time, farm animals
housed at Cunningham Children’s
Home included three cows, one
horse, two heifers and about 100
chickens. Fruit trees/bushes yielded
about 3,000 quarts of fruit per
season. Vegetables from the
garden were a main supply of food.

In 1918, the influenza epidemic hit
the Home and emphasized the need for a larger infirmary. To meet this pressing need, Illinois
Conference Hall, the last of the envisioned additions to the original home, was built in 1921.
Illinois Hall was a two-story building with an infirmary on the first floor and a dormitory for
high school girls on the second floor. Mr. and Mrs. William Hestwood served as
superintendents, 1918-1925. In his 1921 fundraising booklet about Cunningham Children’s
Home, Mr. Hestwood wrote that Cunningham’s purpose was “to make a home for children,
to mold the character of boys and girls for
t he men and women of tomorrow.”
The Board took another bold step in 1921
when they incorporated the Home as a
not-for-profit in the state of Illinois so they
could receive gifts and bequests being
left to it. Cunningham was now a
subsidiary corporation nested within the
parent corporation, the WHMS-IL. And
soon after, Cunningham became the
beneficiary of several farms and land in
their geographic area. These assets would
provide an additional source of income
for Cunningham through the years.
Fortunately, the boundaries of the Urbana School District expanded in 1925 to encompass
the Cunningham Children’s Home and property and Sheldon Hall was no longer used as a
school building. According to one of the children, “We attended grade school at Washington
School in Urbana, which was across the pasture about 1/4 miles away, across the street from
the public park.”
In 1926, the ever forward-looking Board began to work on plans to develop the home to
meet current and future needs. They worked with University of Illinois Professor James White;
he prepared an architectural study which included remodeling Sheldon Hall into a dining
hall and kitchen with a dormitory on the second floor, and building a new main dormitory to

10

house more children, a hospital annex, and a recreation
hall. In 1927, Cunningham began working on the build-
ing plan with the construction of the central heating
plant and laundry facility.
At this time, according to one of the youth, the
Cunningham grounds included “three dormitories—
one for the pre-school and nursery children, another for
the girls of school age, and one for boys of school age.
I would estimate that we had between 60 and 80
children at the home. The barn was also there and
we had a few cows that we milked to provide milk for
ourselves.”
In 1926, the Illinois Conference and the Central Illinois
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church merged
into one conference. The Woman’s Home Missionary
Societies of the two conferences also merged. This
added more members to the Board of Managers and
also enlarged the area from which Cunningham could
draw support.
As the 1920’s drew to a close and the 1930’s began, like
the rest of the country, the Cunningham Board had to
face the impact of the Great Depression. To survive
during this time, the women put any thoughts of
building expansion on hold and the Board cut expenses. However, any gift to the Home over
$100 was put into the building fund and invested. Illinois Hall was closed and the high school

girls were boarded in local homes while
Cunningham continued to pay for their
books and clothing. The laundry was closed
one day a week saving them $20 a month
($295.24 today). Many fathers who could not
pay for their children’s stay were allowed to
do maintenance around the Home to pay
their debt, which saved the cost of hiring
someone to do the work.

Cunningham’s doors stayed open and life went on.
Times were difficult and hard on everyone.

But the Cunningham Board, staff, and WHMS-IL members
never lost sight of their promise and their mission.

They knew then, as we know today, hope begins here!
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-3-
The Changing Child
Care Environment

1933—1960

Children of the 1930’s and 1940’s

The Depression continued and, although it was a
wrenching decision for his boys and himself, the
unemployed Mr. Pittman felt that Cunningham was
the best place for his boys to be cared for. So, Don
Pittman and his older brother Dick came to live at
Cunningham Children’s Home in the 1930’s. Don
and Dick, along with three other boys, milked cows,
tended to chickens and gardened. In Don’s words,
“I was 7 and they did away with the cows shortly
after I left. So it’s my record (“Youngest to Milk
a Cow at Cunningham”) in the 1930’s! We were
termed the Milk Boys. There were five of us. It was
an elite situation because you got away from the
basic rules and stipulations of the matrons. They
were very strict on conduct. You didn’t dare get into
trouble. At the time, Cunningham kids were required
to attend church every Sunday. As the saying goes, I came to know God. I’ve been attending
ever since.”
Jack Burns, another resident in the 30’s, added, “I remember every Sunday we
all piled into the Cunningham bus and went to Sunday School and church at the
Methodist Episcopal Church in Urbana. The kids from the home occupied the

first several pews at the left
front of the sanctuary. Believe
me, we had a bunch of kids that
had Sunday School perfect
attendance pins with attached
bars that seemed a foot long.
I’m sure that Christian influence
has served many of those
individuals very well. I know it
has me.”
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Jack also shared that he and his sister spent
nine years in the 1930’s at Cunningham. “We
all had chores and I remember we had four
cows and we had a couple horses. We boys
were responsible for milking the cows,
taking care of the barnyard, and cleaning out
the barn. I really enjoyed those things, for
some reason or another. I also always thought
Cunningham had their own 3 R’s—respect,
responsibility and proper religious training.
They really emphasized all of those things to
us and drilled that into us in many ways. To
me that had a dramatic effect on my life and
my later years. Proper discipline also played
an important part in our lives; of course, life
would have been chaotic without it in a
dormitory with 25-30 boys.”

The Cunningham farmer/gardener worked
with these boys and held an important
position in the Home. Vegetables in the
garden were eaten fresh or were canned and
were a main supply of food in the spring,
summer and fall months. Having the
children work with the animals and in the
garden was important training for the times.
The boys learned how to garden, do yard maintenance and take care of the animals and the
girls learned domestic skills through their chores in the laundry and kitchen. In a farming

community, this was important knowledge
to have. The Home used milk from their
own cows until state laws for institutions
changed in 1940. The new regulations
required Cunningham to use only
pasteurized milk so they no longer kept
cows. Gardening chores ended about this
time as well.
Eleven-year-old Irma Waggoner came to
Cunningham in 1942 with her sister Phyllis
and two months later, three more sisters
joined them. Irma tells us, “Shortly after
coming to Cunningham, I was given the
job of mopping half of the kitchen floor. I
was told to use “elbow grease” and spent
the greater part of the afternoon looking
in the storeroom for it! I never had toys
13

at home, but at Cunningham I had plenty of
toys. Each of us had our own drawer in the
playroom and mine was filled with my
favorite toys...my paper dolls. Sometimes we
took walks with our matron. We would walk to
a small cemetery to watch the swans, or to
the little airport north of the Home, and
sometimes we got to go shopping in Urbana.
We got a small allowance each week. Some
was used for church and we saved the rest in
an envelope, which our matron kept for us.
We could spend some when we went
shopping. I didn’t want to be at Cunningham
Children’s Home, but looking back, I know it
was the best thing that happened to me. We
were taught discipline and to do a job and do
it well.”
In his later years, Jack Burns also shared these
thoughts: “I lived there long enough to shape
my life for the way I wanted to live and love.
So many things I learned there at Cunningham
Children’s Home I have tried to instill in my
children. I shudder to think about what my life
could have been like without the influence of
Cunningham and the church.”

Moving Forward

Throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s, most
children were still brought to the Home by
one of their parents. However, the percentage
of children brought to the Home by
probation officers or other government
officials was increasing which reflected the
growth of public welfare administration in
the state. Many more children now had
dependency decrees from the courts; but the
majority of payments to the Home still came
from the parents or relatives who placed
the children. Recovery from the Depression
had begun, and Cunningham came out of it
“thanks to its many friends—free of debt and
with adequate reserves.”

14

There was now a desperate need to resurrect the building program. During the 30’s and 40’s
the program concentrated on maintaining congregate, communal living. The children lived
in dormitories where a large space held many children. To comply with state regulations, girls
and boys were separated, given their own entrances to buildings, and played separately.
P lay, the records indicated, was important but so were the chores around the Home.
It is not unreasonable to assume that the children followed many of the same rules of
institutional life that were adopted in the 1912 “Adopted Rules of the Home.” Former
residents remember still marching into the dining room in the late 40’s. “We were served
our meals in a common dining room, with 6-8 persons at a table and one adult at each table.”
In 1933, the Board demonstrated its future-oriented outlook when it hired Charlotte
Fitzgerald, a trained nurse, as superintendent. She brought the Home and the Board through
the coming changes and to the threshold of the era that would see the modernization of
C unningham Children’s Home.
This was an era of fast-changing welfare practices in Illinois, and the fastest change was in the
government’s handling of child welfare cases. The Social Security Act of 1935 and subsequent
amendments, along with state of Illinois statutes, brought about many changes. Grants for
foster care and child welfare services moved the standards of institutional care away from
custodial care and began focusing on the importance of meeting the emotional and
developmental needs of children.

Between 1935-1938, the Board determined that the original home with all its additions had
become badly deteriorated and was unsafe. The children were moved to other buildings and
the original home was razed in 1938. The new Spalding Hall was finished in 1937. It housed
the dining room, kitchen and upstairs the Egly dormitory that housed grade school boys.
Most of the money used for building was raised from bequests to Cunningham. The
dedicated WHMS auxiliaries from the Illinois Conference and William and Viola Egly paid
for the furnishings.
In 1940, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church-South, and the
Methodist Protestant Church were unified into a single Methodist Church. A new women’s
organization was created to accommodate each Church’s former societies. The organization
was now known as the Women’s Society of Christian Service-Illinois Conference (WSCS-IC).
Again, the geographic area and the potential numbers of women to help Cunningham grew.

15

And in 1941, the Board approved the hiring of the first social caseworker for the Home.
Leota Bigler was hired and began to keep a “running record” of the development of some
of the children. Bigler’s job was to recommend children for
admission to the Home and to travel to placement homes to
visit children in foster care. The children’s average length of
stay had grown longer, and the average age of the children
had also increased from 5.6 years to 7.6 years of age.
The mid-40’s saw a lot of activity on the Cunningham
grounds. In 1944, the decision was made to replace the
“old” razed Cunningham Hall. In order to construct a new
building, the Board had to obtain permission from the War
Production Board because building materials were at a
premium. In 1945, Cunningham Children’s Home celebrated
its 50th Anniversary and received permission to build. And in 1947, the new Administration
Building was dedicated.
As the end of the 1940’s approached, Superintendent Fitzgerald
retired. She charged the women of the WSCS-IC to “look to the future,
not the past. Glorious as have been the achievements, heretofore,
they are stepping stones on which to rise to greater heights.”

Reimagining the Future

The Board accepted Charlotte Fitzgerald’s challenge and worked to
make to make Cunningham more modern. The program shifted from
custodial care to helping children become healthy individuals.
In 1949, the Board hired Mrs. Sarah English as Superintendent of the Home. In Mrs. English,
they found someone who had committed her life to the goals of the Methodist Church and
who understood their religious mission. The transformation of Cunningham Children’s Home
from an orphanage into a residential treatment center began in 1949 when Mrs. English told

the Board that the vision of Cunningham’s
future needed to be reimagined. She was
not seeking to change the Home into a
treatment center. Her goal was to
incorporate within the agency the most
modern child care methods that would
stand up to all standards for institutions as
well as make Cunningham able to meet the
future needs of Illinois children. This goal
set into motion a series of events. She
introduced professional social work
philosophy and techniques to the Home
which became the principles that guided
the transformation.
16

Several months into her administration, Mrs. English
told the Board that the future was going to be
different. She very forthrightly told the women that
the world as they knew it was changing and they
were charged with looking to the future, not the
past. The children coming to the Home were
getting older, a phenomenon affecting institutions
across the state.

In 1958, based on conversations with
representatives from the Illinois Division of Child
Welfare, Mrs. English projected lower numbers for
intake as a future trend and that the institutions in
the future would be oriented toward adolescents.
These adolescents would need different kinds of
care and Mrs. English challenged the Board to
increase their knowledge of child guidance.
The Board accepted this new challenge.

The transformation during the English era was not
a pre-planned nor consciously managed change
toward residential treatment. The evidence shows
that the WSCS-IC women’s goal was to modernize
the Home. A new future vision (the Cottage System)
based on professional child welfare values of a more
“modern” home was adopted. The modern cottage
homes were more family-like. They housed 10
Cunningham children and a married couple as
“parents.” The cottage parents also raised their
own family among Cunningham kids. These
cottages promoted individual growth for the
children and also provided treatment in the form
of casework or group work.
Clarence Retter spent almost his entire childhood
at Cunningham, arriving in 1953 at age 5, staying
14 years and meeting his wife, Rosemary, when she
came to live there. “I had plenty of attention, plenty
of kids to play with, food, clothing, schooling. There
were lots of happy times. If there was a better place
for learning and growing, I don’t know of it. We’d
already suffered hardships. It couldn’t get any worse than losing your immediate family, but
then we were given a larger family, people who have something in common with you. It
taught me to accept me as the person I am.”

The earlier congregate care philosophy in which the WHMS-IC women had created a better
society through their group care of children shifted to one in which they were helping

17

children become healthy individuals. By adopting principles from the professional social work
community as their guide in modernization, the choices made by the Board led the Home
t o evolve into a professional agency.

During the mid-50’s, new Methodist standards (Board of Hospitals and Homes, 1956)
maintained that Methodist Homes should hire professionally trained workers to provide
services to children. In addition, the Child Welfare League of America, whom the Board had
authorized to study the Home’s policies, recommended the need to “properly unify the
institutional staff into a treatment team. Along with an increase in supervising personnel,
there was a need to develop and create a treatment-oriented philosophy of child care with a
therapeutic emphasis accepted by all members of the staff.”

In 1959, the Board continued their work to take Cunningham forward in its new move toward
the future when they hired a part-time recreation person and a staff doctor. In 1960, they
built the third of the planned five cottages; and they bid a fond farewell to Superintendent
Sarah English as she retired.

As it has always done…
Cunningham continued to face and respond to constant changes in
the needs of their children.

In this era that meant…
Making sure that they met the building necessities, and provided new
child care programs to meet the needs of their children.
Indeed…
hope begins here.

18

-4-
A New Era Dawns

December 1960—1988

The Ed Odom Years (Dec. 1960-1976): Transformation

I remember “the evening Mr. Odom called me to his office and made me sit there and he
asked me questions. I came from a very dysfunctional family. He broke the ice and I told him
everything that had happened to me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if he hadn’t done that.
For me, it was a wonderful place to be. A lot of kids didn’t particularly like living there, but for
me, it was heaven on earth.”
— Lynn Hart

In December 1960, Ed Odom, became Superintendent of Cunningham Children’s Home. Ed,
who held a Master’s of Science in Social Work, was grounded in both the Methodist social
welfare traditions and professional social work. His experience and philosophical disposition
combined both the professional background needed and the spiritual leadership tradition
required. Striving to make the Home more
professional, he immediately requested of
the Board to change the title from Super-
intendent to Executive Director.
At the first annual board meeting,
Ed explained, “Lately we have been
taking more difficult children who are
greater risks than we can handle
sometimes. We know we can’t win in
every case, but always start out with the
intention of succeeding.”
He immediately turned the Board’s
attention to focus on professional
services for all families in need and for
what the staff needed for their expanded role in the community.
Following his lead, the Board worked tirelessly to make Cunningham Children’s Home more
professional by supporting Ed in the hiring of professional staff and increasing salaries to
keep them. He revised and developed new roles in Cunningham’s structure and directed the
Board’s Public Relations Committee and District Representatives to become more involved at
the local level in promoting Cunningham’s causes. The Board supported his belief in

19

affiliation to larger professional organizations for their services and also for the standards and
reputation gained by that affiliation. Ed became one of the founding members of the Child
Care Association of Illinois and, within the Methodist hierarchy, he continued to be a
recognized leader.

The Board also faced another Methodist Church reorganization. In 1968, the Methodist
Church and Evangelical United Brethren Church merged to become the United Methodist
Church of today. The women’s organizations also merged in 1969 to form the Women’s
Society of Christian Service (WSCS). Then, in 1972, the WSCS and the Wesleyan Service
Guild united to form the United Methodist Women (UMW), again increasing the number of
women involved with Cunningham Children’s Home.

As previously predicted by Sarah English, the average age of the children had increased
to 15 years old and the average length of stay was now 2.5 years. Discharge no longer
depended on the re-stabilization of the family home but rather, the completion of treatment
determined by the professional staff at Cunningham. One of the new policies adopted in
1962 was the acceptance of children regardless of race, creed or color. Previously, during the
1940’s up to 1962, African American children were taken care of by Ms. Francis Nelson in her
home in Champaign. The next big change in state regulations for the Board and staff was the
intake policy for Cunningham, which now required the acceptance of children/youth deemed
dependent but not delinquent by the court. Referral from the court or another social welfare

agency was the only route to admission.
Individual referrals would no longer be
accepted. In 1964, the Department of
Children and Family Services was formed
and began referring youth to Cunningham
Children’s Home.

Cunningham Children’s Home was evolving
into an institution that cared for youth with
mild, moderate and severe emotional
problems. The first professionally trained
remedial reading teacher was hired in 1965,
and, the following year, the first consulting
psychiatrist for diagnostic/intake services
was hired.

Ed and the Board wasted no time in starting
their new program direction. By
May 1967, the first off-campus home, the
Boys Group Home, was purchased. It was
dedicated in August of 1967 and seven older
boys who no longer needed institutional
care were greeted by a set of house parents.
In 1969, Cunningham rented a home in the
community as the first Girls Group Home.
In addition to the group homes, Ed
20

developed a group of “visiting families” in
the community. These families were outside
contacts for youth who did not have family
relationships. Through interaction with these
families, the hope was the youth would be
given appropriate behavior to model,
develop outside support systems and
increase their self-esteem.
Paul Raymond was a resident at Cunningham
from 1963 to 1966 and later returned to
work as a house parent from 1973 to 1975.
He said Cunningham always had a family
atmosphere. “You made good relationships
that lasted a lifetime.”
Raymond also said working at Cunningham
was much harder than being a resident.
“When I was here, the kids were somewhat
sad for what they didn’t have. When I was
working here, the kids were mad. They were
much harder to deal with, but they still
needed the same things.”
By 1968, it was clear that Cunningham had
changed and now the Home met the 1964
Child Welfare League of America definition
of a Residential Center with its social work/
therapeutic focus. The Home received
accreditation with the Child Welfare League
of America and became a part of the
nationwide network of child welfare
agencies serving children/youth that required
adoption, foster home care or other services.
Therapeutic recreation took on an important
focus during this time as well. In 1968,
Cunningham began its first Recreation/
Activity Program and hired Mary Frangiosa,
a professional in the field, to create and
operate a structured program.
The youth were taken on camping trips to
the Smoky Mountains and the Ozarks. Ed
purchased bicycles at the annual
police auction so that each kid could have a
bicycle instead of sharing a very small

21

number of bikes. Extracurricular activities
at school were encouraged and during
the summers, he rented cottages in the
Missouri-Illinois area and would take the
youth on vacation in groups.
In 1966, Cunningham purchased a cabin
and speedboat on Lake Mattoon to make
therapeutic recreation more accessible and
closer to home.
Cultural recreation was a high priority as
well. For these kids, who were coping with
problems resulting from broken homes and
dysfunctional families, the ceramic, art, music and creative writing classes became even more
important as therapy tools to help them be able to learn and grow in Cunningham’s Christian
surroundings. Support from the United Methodist Women was expressed by Board Member
Mrs. Howard Kinkley: “Love has always been the cornerstone of our care. Techniques, tools
and facilities must complement that love.”
In 1969, the Urbana School District #116 provided the first on-grounds classroom for youth
residing at Cunningham Children’s Home who were not thriving in a public school setting.
The classroom began in the basement of the Administration Building with one Urbana teacher
(Dee Kaplan) working with 2-6 students. The goal of this on-grounds school was to enable
the students, at some point, to
“mainstream” back into the public
school setting.
The demand for meeting the
education needs of residents with
severe behavior disorders and
learning disabilities grew, and in
1971, the Urbana District #116 staff
and students were relocated from
the Administration Building
basement to the remodeled
second floor of Spalding Hall.
In 1970, as a 75th Cunningham
anniversary project, Ed announced
plans for a three-phase therapeutic recreation facility (1-swimming pool, 2-indoor
recreational space, and 3-vocational area) that would provide for a physical and creative
activity program.
For the first time in its history, the Cunningham Board would call upon community residents to
help finance the first phase of the project. More than 40,000 United Methodist Women were
asked to contribute 75 cents each and an appeal was mailed to 100,000 Methodist families
22

of the UMC-Illinois Conference. According to
Board President Mrs. Russell O’Dell, this would
produce an “unknown quantity” and the
remainder of the funds would be sought through
gifts from individuals, clubs and organizations.
On October 10, 1971, the swimming pool was
dedicated. By September 1975, the recreational
and vocational center opened. It housed the
professional Therapeutic Recreation Program
and included a multi-purpose gymnasium, an
arts and crafts area, game room, lounge and an
exercise room.
These new facilities would provide physical
and emotional release for the teenagers of
Cunningham Children’s Home. And in 1976,
the center was named the Odom Center in
honor of Ed Odom.
In the 1970’s, Cunningham added a chaplain
to its staff. The bishop of the Central Illinois
Conference appointed Reverend Bert Lancaster
to serve as the first part-time chaplain at
Cunningham. During his service from 1973 to
1980, duties not only included building healthy
relationships with the youth and staff, but also
interpreting the role of Cunningham to church
and civic organizations.
During his tenure as Executive Director at
Cunningham Children’s Home (Dec. 1960-1976),
Ed built the framework as a residential treatment
center, and by 1976, Cunningham had completed
its transition. It was firmly established as a
residential treatment center for youth who
had come out of abusive and neglectful
situations.

The Tom Powell Years (1976—1988)

Following Ed Odom, Tom Powell became
Executive Director of Cunningham Children’s
Home in 1976. Tom had been a resident of
Cunningham Home from 1953 until he
graduated from Urbana High School in 1962.
He received financial support from Cunningham’s

23

George I. Maxwell Scholarship Fund for higher education and he became Cunningham’s first
college graduate. Tom served as an example to Cunningham kids that success is never out

of reach.
During Tom’s tenure, the bishop of the Central
Illinois Conference appointed Reverend Mike
Eischen as a part-time chaplain in 1981. In
1983, the Synod recognized the spiritual need
of Cunningham Home and Reverend Eischen
was appointed as a full-time chaplain. He
served in this role until 1993.
As early as 1967, Mona Kewish (Executive
Director of Social Work with the Methodist
Board of Hospitals and Homes) suggested that
it would be wise to consider building a school
on Cunningham Children’s Home grounds. She
felt the school would be needed because some
children’s behavior would not be acceptable in
the local schools. And, during Tom’s tenure, the
Winfred D. Gerber School was built from funds
raised by the United Methodist Women along
with a generous and loving gift from Mrs. Alma
Trevett Gerber in memory of her husband,
Winfred Dean Gerber.
Winfred D. Gerber School was designed to
meet the special education needs of Cunningham residents and some Urbana public school
students as well. In December 1982, staff and students moved from Spalding Hall into the
7,500 square foot facility that contained five classrooms, tutorial and observation rooms,
school offices, a cooperative work training area and an audio-visual room.
Tom noted, “All the children attending [Gerber School] , even in the expanded program,
will have individual as well as group therapy. Probably 60 to 70 percent of the time they
(Cunningham kids) are as normal as any kid. But it’s that 10 to 20 percent of the time
that they overreact to criticism or to orders and the rejection and pain that they have had
before. That’s why the
basic philosophy at
Cunningham is that kids
can change. The staff
doesn’t try to get them
to ignore the past, but
rather to come to grips
with it. Through our
relationships with them,
we stress there’s still
hope for the future.”
24

The Illinois State Board of Education referred
to Cunningham as a “blended” school
program, meaning that it was both a public
and a private school. Gerber School offered a
public Day Student Program and a private
Cunningham Residential Program.
The Day Program grew from two Urbana
students in Spalding Hall to 16-20 students
in Gerber School. These students came not
only from Urbana School District, but also
from surrounding districts. The average
day student remained in the program
approximately one year prior to partial
reintegration back into public school
programming in their home district.
The Residential Program had an average
daily attendance of 45 students from
on-campus and from the community group
homes. A number of Cunningham students
also took some of their classes in one of the
Urbana schools in an effort to mainstream
them back into the public school setting.
Mrs. Kewish also urged the Cunningham
Board to involve the United Methodist Women in raising funds for current and future needs.
And again, the Board took up the challenge and in 1983 created the Friends of Cunningham,
a fund to perpetuate long-term growth and development. The endowment would provide an
additional means of securing and managing public charitable dollars to ensure the future of
Cunningham Children’s Home.
As always, the United Methodist Women continued their commitment and work to fulfill
their promise:
To meet the needs of children and families,
To honor their commitment as keepers of the Cunningham Trust,
To meet the ever-changing and increasing demands on resources,
And to always make sure that..

hope begins here.

25

-5-
The Legacy Continues

1988—2020

On January 31, 1895, Judge Cunningham wrote in his journal, “May God’s blessing go with
this gift, and may it be the means of doing much good.” Clearly, the Cunningham Children’s
Home’s leadership through the years had employed every means possible to “do much
good.” Over the years Cunningham Children’s Home had become a highly respected,
professional residential treatment center caring for and providing professional services for
abused and neglected children and youth.

The Sam Banks Years (1988-2008)

Sam Banks was appointed Interim Executive
Director of Cunningham Children’s Home in
1988 and was hired as Director in 1989. Sam had
worked in all aspects of residential treatment
including casework, therapeutic recreation and
special education. He immediately formed an
Advisory Committee as a formal means for staff
to communicate ideas, questions, and concerns
to the agency’s leadership. The committee was
made up of representatives from each of Cunningham’s areas. From its roots in residential
care and the recommendations of this committee, Cunningham Children’s Home would
expand to provide a variety of residential, community-based, and education services. “We
were fortunate”, said a former Board Member, “to be able to hire Sam Banks for the position
for Executive Director. His expertise in the child welfare field, his humor, his Christian
beliefs—all are an inspiration to us.”

Cunningham Children’s
Home had now matured
and, continuing the
legacy, opened the fifth
cottage on the campus
in 1989. The Mabel
Goodman Diagnostic
Center was named
in honor of Mabel
Goodman who provided
funds for the building
in her bequest to
Cunningham.
26

The Center provided a 90-day residential diagnostic facility serving children ages 6-12 years
old that had been diagnosed with behavioral and emotional needs. At the end of the child’s
diagnostic period, the staff would make a recommendation that the child be reunited with
family, placed in a foster home or placed in a residential care facility.

In 1990, Cunningham purchased a duplex in the community that was being remodeled for
the Girls Group Home to move into. The staff was faced with repeated changes in the
completion dates for this remodeling, and they began to question whether the girls would
really get to move in. Sam literally hit the ground running on this problem and he promised
that, if it didn’t happen by December 1st, he would run his laps around Crystal Lake Park in
a dress. It didn’t happen. So Sam donned the dress to take his usual daily five-mile run. As
he walked down the steps in his black-and-white dress, about 30 kids gathered around the
steps and chanted: “Go Sam go, don’t run slow; Run Sam run; it’s all in fun; even in a dress,
do your best!” The kids and staff at Cunningham had pledged money for each mile Sam ran,
and had decided that the money they had made would be donated to the Swann Special
Care Center, a facility for severely disabled children. The girls and staff were able to move
into their new residence in early 1991.
In the early 1990’s, to better serve their children and youth, Cunningham childcare staff
took a big step forward and transitioned from “house parents” to “team shift scheduling”;
and, for the first time, five young men, ages 18-20, were housed off-campus in a Transitional
Living Program with a supervisor who stayed with the men in a college dormitory style
arrangement. Cunningham also began another program in the community for 10 males and
females with an on-site live-in supervisor in an apartment cluster. In addition to staff and

27

program changes, Cunningham’s friends and supporters from the United Methodist Women,
United Methodist Men, and the United Methodist Church members in Paris, Illinois, took on

the huge job of razing the deteriorated
cabin at Lake Mattoon in 1993— and then
rebuilding it! The cabin was ready for
the youth in the summer of 1995.
Cunningham staff were always on the
lookout for ways to engage and help their
kids in healing experiences. In 1991, they
found just what they were looking for in
Master Drummer Oscar Sulley who was
originally from Ghana, Africa. Cunningham
hired Oscar to teach the kids African
drumming—and he quickly came to be
known as “Grandpa” by kids and staff!
This was the beginning of the Cunningham “Village Drummers.” During Oscar’s years at
Cunningham, as the kids worked with him to learn to drum, to listen and to understand how
to cooperate with the other drummers, Oscar shared the essence of his life and culture. He
helped all the kids he worked with to develop a healthy curiosity and respect for the diversity
between himself and the varied cultures represented by the kids and staff. In addition to all
they were learning, Cunningham was able to provide funds so that the drummers could have
opportunities to share their music, what they were learning and to experience the new
feelings of pride and self-confidence in what they had accomplished.

In June 1993, Oscar, the Village Rhythms and their staff, headed to Wisconsin to join in an
Objibway Reservation Powwow gathering where they spent several days learning about and
experiencing the Native American Culture as well as performing. The next year they
performed at Disney World’s Epcot Center. In 1997 they were invited to perform at the 4th
Annual Black Hills Seminar in South Dakota, and on their way,
stopped to drum for two South Dakota children’s homes.

Organized Fundraising Events Begin

Under Sam’s leadership, Cunningham Children’s Home
became the focus of organized fundraising events such as the
Annual Golf Benefit Scramble in 1990 sponsored by the
Urbana Kiwanis Club. At University of Illinois basketball coach

28

Lou Henson’s suggestion, Sam invited Flyin’ Illini stars Kendall Gill and Nick Anderson to
be his guests at the second Golf Benefit. Kendall showed a strong interest in Cunningham
and Sam asked if he would become more involved. As a result, Kendall became an annual
contender in the golf outings. Kendall also began to visit with Cunningham kids every year
to talk with them and, of course, shoot some baskets with them—they loved him! For the
third Benefit Scramble, in 1992, Sam suggested making the event a partnership between
the Kiwanis and Kendall Gill, and the “Annual Kendall Gill and Urbana Kiwanis Golf Benefit
Scramble” began. Today, the event is known as the “Annual Kendall Gill Golf Benefit” and is
supported each year by the Kiwanis Club of Champaign County.
Kendall Gill noted, “I was fortunate to have a mother and father and a good household.
When Sam contacted me, I asked to be more involved. I met with the kids this morning. I
enjoyed talking with them. I have seen the loving, caring environment at Cunningham and
I am pleased to be a part of the Cunningham ‘family.’”

Spiritual Care

In 1993, after serving Cunningham as
chaplain for 12 years, Reverend Mike
Eischen was appointed, by the bishop of the
Central Illinois Conference, to serve another
church. The bishop then appointed Reverend
Mike Jones (1993-1995) and Reverend
Melva England (1995-2000) to serve as
Cunningham’s chaplain. In 1996, the
Central Illinois Conference and Southern
Illinois Conference merged to form the Illinois
Great Rivers Conference (IGRC). In 2001, the
IGRC bishop appointed Reverend Elaine
McCoy (2001-2003) and Reverend John Sims (interim 2003-2004) as chaplain to serve the
spiritual needs of Cunningham.
Reverend Gay King Crede was appointed as Cunningham’s chaplain in 2004 by the IGRC
bishop and still today is dedicated to serving Cunningham youth. In her own words,

29

Chaplain Gay shared, “I get to interact with amazing youth who have lived through horrific
circumstances. They are looking for love and acceptance, and there’s nothing better than
being able to connect them with the unconditional love and acceptance of God. Many of
the young people who have gone through so much in their lives, have deep compassion and
insights which makes them much wiser than their years. Again and again, I have seen God
break into individual lives and group situations at unexpected times and unexpected ways. It
is a beautiful gift to witness that. Most of the youth hang on to a hope that there is a Higher
Power who created them and cares about them. During their time at Cunningham, I have the
privilege of helping them see God’s great love for them and helping them grow into the
person God created them to be.”

Campaign for Cunningham and More Changes

In 1994, the “Campaign
for Cunningham” was
launched. The goal was
to raise $900,000 for
capital improvements
and a boys group
home in an Urbana
neighborhood to
house eight young
men. Kendall Gill
generously contributed $300,000 toward the building. In 1995, when the home was opened,
it was named the Kendall Gill Boys Group Home in his honor.
Cunningham saw even more changes in 1996. When the United Methodist Conferences
merged to form the Illinois Great Rivers Conference (IGRC), once again, the United
Methodist Women of the church also merged. This again expanded the base of the
UMW women committed to the mission and ministry of Cunningham Children’s Home.
In the same year, the
Illinois Great Rivers
Conference UMW
units approved the
Cunningham Board’s
request to purchase
the 17 acres of
contiguous land
north and adjacent
to the existing main
campus which
increased Cunningham’s area to just over 32 acres. This purchase would give Cunningham
the building space needed to meet the coming major changes in child welfare issues and
provide the therapeutic treatment needed.

30

A group of Board members formed the Guardian Parent Giving Program
in 1997 to help Cunningham look after the daily therapeutic care of their
kids with a steady and predictable stream of support through recurring
gifts. Today, as then, a Guardian Parent is any individual or group who
is concerned about the needs of children/youth in crisis and willing to
make a financial gift toward their therapeutic care. By 2020, there were
nearly 200 Guardian Parents whose reliable support continued to help
Cunningham make up the $37 per child, per day difference between the
actual cost of care and the amount that is reimbursed from referring resources.
Also in 1997, following extensive research, the Circle of Courage Program was adopted by
every area in Cunningham’s mission and work. The Circle of Courage resiliency model, still
today, provides a therapeutic framework for
Cunningham’s services. As articulated in
Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the
Future, written by Larry Brendtro, Martin
Brokenleg, and Steve Van Brockern, the Circle
teaches that children need four inter-related
experiences: Belonging (attachment), Mastery
(achievement), Independence (autonomy) and
Generosity (altruism). The Circle of Courage has no
sharp edges. It serves as a soft, nurturing framework
to guide young people away from isolation and
despair into a community of love and caring.
In keeping with their commitment to meet the ever-changing and challenging needs of the
youth in Cunningham’s care, and to begin stepping out beyond their campus, the Board of
Directors approved the creation and implementation of a Therapeutic Foster Care Program in
1997. A child was placed with foster parents in a private home; Cunningham staff members
regularly visited with and counseled the youngster and the parents.
In 1998, the Board approved the establishment of the CIRCLE Academy Day Treatment
School, which derived its name from the Circle of Courage Model: C (Caring), I (Independent),
R (Respectful), C (Cooperative), L (Learning), and E (Engaged). Through the CIRCLE Academy
programs, the special education cooperatives in the area contracted with Cunningham
Children’s Home to provide all-day services for students, ages 5 to 21 years old, with severe
behavior disorders
and learning
disabilities who
could not function
and learn well in their
public schools. The
previously placed
students from the
county in the Gerber
Residential School

31

were now students in the CIRCLE Academy. Shelby R. benefited from the both Therapeutic
Foster Care Program and the CIRCLE Academy program. Shelby lived with his mom in
a homeless shelter on and off for the first 14 years of his life until she developed cancer and
passed away. His dad wasn’t in the picture. When Shelby came into the Therapeutic Foster
Care Program, it was a difficult transition; but Shelby made huge progress thanks to a
devoted foster mom, support from extended family, and Cunningham’s CIRCLE Academy.
Shelby held several jobs through the Cunningham job training program, and he also helped
out at a church food pantry. Shelby shared, “It’s been rough. Cunningham made it less
rough—by providing comfort. They gave me a home.” On one Valentine’s Day—his mother’s
birthday—Shelby volunteered at the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen “to serve other homeless
people because I never really had help growing up. It was terrible being homeless.”

A New Century of Loving Care

At the turn of the century in 2000, Cunningham began to review its main campus and the
services it was providing. Clearly, through the years the Board, staff and United Methodist
Women had employed every means possible “to do much good” as Judge Cunningham
had proposed in his journal. Over the course of the years, however, a decline in funding for
social services in the state meant that only the most damaged and seriously troubled youth
were placed in residential treatment settings. Now, in order to be approved for residential
care, children had to present significant risk behaviors such as frequent physical aggression,
running away, sexual behavior problems and/or serious psychiatric symptoms that prevented
them from being safely managed in a foster home or other community setting. To address
these issues and needs, the Cunningham 2000 Committee (including Board, staff and
architectural professionals) was organized and began the process of study and development
for a Master Campus Plan—a total campus facilities plan designed to meet the changing
definition and needs of youth at risk. This plan challenged the Board of Directors to stretch
Cunningham’s resources once again.
In 2001, the Board established the Cunningham Children’s Home Foundation to support
the mission and ministry of Cunningham. As Sam explained, “Many of these young people
come out of situations where they have been abused, neglected and abandoned
and they have been removed from that situation and need a place where, most importantly,
they are safe, cared for and provided for on a regular basis.” The Foundation was charged
with providing charitable support to meet the changing and increasing annual operating
and capital needs of the agency as well as providing management and leadership to
maximize the performance and growth of Cunningham Children’s Home’s endowment
assets and funds.
The Phase I Design and Construction Committee was formed and went to work solidifying
plans for a new Residential Treatment Center (RTC) and a Spiritual Life Center (SLC). In 2003,
the Committee gave the final approval for the planned construction of the new buildings on
the 17 acre area at the north end of the campus. When ground was broken for the RTC in
March 2004, the Cunningham Master Campus Plan became a reality.

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To fund the Master Campus Plan Phase I, a $15 million
capital campaign goal known as Lighting the Way began.
The Board and staff pledged to “light the way” and
quietly began raising money. Joyce Pfenning, director of
residential and clinical service at the time, explained, “The
bottom line for all residential treatment centers is that we
are being asked to safely maintain youth who frequently
engage in behaviors that are dangerous to themselves
and others. We are being asked to provide more intensive
services, at a higher quality and over a shorter period of
time with less money.”
In 2005, 30 Cunningham youth (20 boys and 10 girls) moved
from the cottages into the new 23,700 sq. ft. Residential Treatment Center (RTC), fulfilling
part of the Master Campus Plan Phase I. This facility was a major step forward in creating
a safer and more effective treatment environment. The RTC included three self-contained
residential units connected to a clinical and health services wing that housed offices for the
therapists, nurses and supervisory staff. The safety improvements were enormous and made
a measurable impact both by reducing dangerous situations for the residents and by giving
staff improved tools to focus their attention on the therapeutic needs of each resident. At the
same time, the building was designed to preserve each resident’s emotional safety and
feeling of home. While more clinical in appearance than the older cottages, the new living
environments included attractive design features and abundant natural light.

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Quilts for Kids and Much More

Cunningham, along with the loving and caring support of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference
United Methodist Women, has continued to meet the needs of hurting and suffering kids. A
favorite tradition, stretching back to its 1895 roots, is that the Methodist Women have made

quilts for every child, youth and young person
who has come into any program at Cunningham.
In 2005, the history of giving quilts to those who
have come to Cunningham led to the organized,
now annual, signature event to raise awareness
and funds for Cunningham. The first “Festival of
Quilts” was held at Lincoln Square in Urbana.
According to Carolyn Yockey, a member of the
UMW at First UMC in Normal and chair of the
2005 event, “Quilts provided by the United
Methodist Women have always made an impact
on the lives of children at Cunningham. The
Festival ties the [quilts and fundraising] together.”
Total attendance the first year was nearly 900
people and the event raised $20,000. Each year
many quilters provide quilts for the show and
auction, and with the continuing work and support of the United Methodist Women, each
year both the attendance and funds
raised has continued to grow.
The Festival was moved into
Cunningham’s Spiritual Life Center in
2008. And in 2019, the 15th Annual
Festival of Quilts had an attendance of
1,360 and raised $76,000. In 2020, the
Festival
had to
be virtual
due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to generous sponsors and
supporters all over the country, $61,747 was raised.
Danielle Sheppard, pictured with her Cunningham quilt, joined
Cunningham Children’s Home’s Independent Living Program
after she graduated from high school. The program paid the
rent on her apartment and provided emotional guidance while
she attended Parkland College. Danielle said, “Cunningham
gave me the opportunities parents would give their children
that I wouldn’t have had.” Cunningham staff members moved
Danielle into her dorm room when she transferred to Southern

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Illinois University and they attended her graduation. “I would not be where I am if it wasn’t
for this program. It’s just a fact.” Today, Danielle holds a master’s degree in school counseling
from Northeastern Illinois University and works with troubled youth in Chicago.

Spiritual Life Center

In 2006, the Spiritual Life Center, which
serves as a resource for spiritual and
emotional healing as well as providing a
Cunningham community center where
graduations, school plays and other
celebrations take place, opened its doors,
completing
the Campus
Master Plan
Phase I.
The 1,674 sq. ft. Spiritual Life Center contains a chapel, a
meditation room, the chaplain’s office, several meeting
rooms and offices.
During the groundbreaking, Sam shared that “One of the
things we’ve always talked about is that we’ve been in ministry
doing God’s work with children, but we haven’t had a building
that was dedicated to the faith-based aspect of our ministry.
Breaking ground on the Spiritual Life Center is really a
monumental event, and something to be proud of.”

Moving Ahead

As fundraising to pay for new facilities continued, the
Cunningham Board and staff turned their attention to the
educational, vocational and therapeutic needs of the kids and
embarked on Phase II of the Master Campus Plan—creating a
new Educational and Recreation Center.

The “Coach’s Campaign” was launched in
2007. Chaired by former Illini Basketball Coach
Lou Henson and his wife Mary along with
former Illini and NBA player Kendall Gill and
his wife Wendy, this campaign became a major
initiative. The goal was to provide a base of
support for the new Education and Recreation
Center beginning with raising $2 million
towards a new Special Therapies Center and
$7 million towards the cost of two new schools.

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Drawing on best practice models for special education and therapeutic recreation, the
proposed complex was designed to include a residential school, a day school, a shared
cafeteria/dining hall and a shared recreation and activity center.

Also in 2007, the Girls Group
Home youth returned to a
cottage on Cunningham’s main
campus and the Transitional
Living House for older youth
moved into the former Girls
Group Home residence. These
moves reflected the ongoing
need to continue to shift
Cunningham’s resources and
adapt facilities to better meet
the young people’s needs.
In February 2008, Sam
announced that he would be
leaving Cunningham to return to his roots and serve children and youth in need in the
Chicago area. Under his leadership, Cunningham Children’s Home had grown from a staff of
75 serving 57 youth with an annual budget of just under $1 million to a multi-faceted child
welfare agency with a staff of 222 and an annual budget of $12.5 million. Cunningham had
expanded to provide a variety of residential, community-based, and education services to
over 260 youth and their families annually. Throughout this time of change and growth,
Cunningham had maintained a balanced annual budget, received statewide recognition for
the quality of its programs and dramatically increased its level of charitable support.

The Marlin Livingston Years (2008—Present)

In 2008, Marlin Livingston followed Sam as Cunningham’s new president and CEO. His
previous experience included frontline and administrative roles in residential care and
hospital settings as well as having served as a therapist and cottage director at Cunningham
in the 1990’s. Of Sam, he said, “Sam is very well respected in the community, and I want to
continue his and the Board’s vision.”

In 2008 and into early 2009, Marlin and
Cunningham continued to respond to the
changing needs of their increasing population
of older youth. In addition to the existing
Transitional Living Program, Cunningham
opened extended transitional living services
within an existing apartment complex in
Urbana. Not only were clients (males and now
females ages 17 ½ - 21) living in Cunningham
housing in the community, there were also
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some clients who lived on their own in the community with Cunningham’s guidance.

Also in 2009, Marlin wasted no time in forming the Master Campus Plan Phase II Design and
Construction Committee, bringing together individuals with diverse expertise in engineering,
construction, space utilization and special education. The goal for these experts was to
complete the program verification phase for the construction of a much-needed building to
house Gerber School, CIRCLE Academy Urbana, food services and the recreation/special
therapies departments. IGW Architecture presented the update for the Program Verification
Master Campus Plan Phase II in 2010. And 2010 saw Cunningham celebrate its 115 years of
service to children and older youth! Cunningham continued to provide very high-level
psychiatric and educational services for their youth, make internal agency transitions and
maintain continuity of care.

CIRCLE Academy Urbana had continued to grow. Even after the school added additional
classrooms in 2007 in the vacant Trevett Cottage, in 2010 they expanded classrooms into the
vacant Inez Rose Cottage. Ten-year-old Andy confided to his teacher at CIRCLE Academy
Urbana, “Sometimes I’ve felt like people think I’m broken and need to be fixed.” Andy has
learned that he can live successfully just as he is, even with his autism. His teachers, social
workers and peers taught him the coping and communication skills he needs to express
himself and build relationships with others. He acquired tools that help him talk about his
disability with family and friends. At CIRCLE Academy, academic and social-emotional goals
go hand in hand. “When I came to CIRCLE Academy, I saw people like me for the first time,”
Andy said. “And I realized I didn’t have to fight my demons by myself. For me, school is
a sanctuary.”

At this same time, Cunningham was also facing ongoing challenges in the form of an
uncertain economic future for the state of Illinois and the country. As the staff progressed
through the 116th year in Cunningham’s history, they continued to hold themselves to
the highest possible standards in meeting the needs of the young people in their care. They
remained committed to their mission of providing a safe, nurturing, therapeutic environment
where their children and youth could experience personal growth and healing.

In 2012, planning progressed on the Master Campus Plan Phase II, along with remodeling of
the Goodman Diagnostic Center to reopen as Goodman Cottage residential unit for 10 male
clients. Cunningham’s urgent need for these
new buildings grew in order to meet the
requirements of their increasingly troubled
youth. At this time, Cunningham also added
the Nurtured Heart Approach to their
treatment model, which is a means to
support and nourish relationships. When
a child has developed “inner wealth” they
begin to make choices and decisions guided
by their own character strengths, virtues
and values. Staff used the Nurtured Heart
Approach in conjunction with the Circle of
Courage framework.

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The hope begins here philosophy was initiated across the campus and in the Cunningham
community programs in 2013. Using this philosophy, a group of Cunningham staff from
varied programs work together to give hope to their youth suffering from serious emotional
and behavioral challenges that have been caused by abuse, neglect, mental illness and more.
Through comprehensive programs and services, staff provides expert care to help
Cunningham kids learn positive coping and behavioral skills, achieve realistic academic
goals and develop the life skills necessary to be successful in their communities.
Marlin noted, “Our kids call us from all over the nation. They’ll bring their fiancée here to
show them this was part of their life. We’ve had weddings here; we’ve had funerals here. It’s
just a huge blessing because the work is tough. Sometimes the progress is slow. It allows us
to see both the potential that they have realized in themselves, and the fruits of our labor. It
kind of keeps you coming back the next week when you can see the successes.”

Changes in the Child Welfare Climate

The rapidly changing child welfare climate was the driving force behind Marlin, the
management team and an ad hoc committee of the Board of Directors as they worked to
strengthen the agency strategic plan in February of 2014. Their mission was to nourish hope
through effective solutions so children could thrive and families flourish. The core values of
spirituality, teamwork, integrity and respect grounded their work and bound them together.
In May 2014, the Department of Children and Family Services indicated a great need for
foster care homes and Cunningham responded by expanding its Therapeutic Foster Care
Program. The number of children and families served tripled in three months. Cunningham
hired new staff and recruited new foster parents to give more kids caring and stable homes.
The annual Kendall Gill Golf Benefit and the Festival of Quilts continued to grow in both
attendance and financial support for Cunningham as well as increasing awareness of
Cunningham’s mission and vision. During the 2014 Golf Benefit, its 25th Anniversary,
Kendall Gill spoke to the attendees about their shared commitment to the Benefit and to
Cunningham: “This wasn’t just something to do for a couple of years. A lot of the people
you see here now were here 25 years ago. It’s good that all of us stayed with it and continued
to raise money for Cunningham Children’s Home.”

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In August that same year, Cunningham opened CIRCLE Academy Vermilion, located in
Rossville, Illinois. The program, based on the special education model used at CIRCLE
Academy Urbana on Cunningham’s campus, provides individualized educational and
behavioral plans for students in order to address each student’s needs. Cunningham made
the decision to open the school after talking with school officials in Vermilion County about
the need to broaden the curriculum of special
education services for their students. Branden,
one of the first students to come to CIRCLE
Academy Vermilion, summed up his feelings
about his new teacher when he said, “She
helps me have peace.”

Reaching Out and Moving Ahead

The year 2016 became one of expansion in
Cunningham’s Community-Based Services
and a renewed effort to complete Phase II of
the Master Campus Plan.
In January, Cunningham’s years of experience
helping kids in their therapeutic schools
transition to adulthood, expanded into the
community. Cunningham had established the
original Vocational Education Program in 1998 at Gerber School, and later included CIRCLE
Academy. This program was expanded in 2016, renamed the OPTIONS Program, and
became part of Cunningham’s Community Services. OPTIONS works with youth and adults,
ages 6 up to 40, with emotional, behavioral and mental health challenges and helps these
individuals become self-sufficient through training, support and real-world
experiences. Services are developed around an individual’s understanding of their skills,
accommodations and disability while providing a workplace experience. Individuals are
referred to Cunningham’s OPTIONS Program from public schools and social service agencies
throughout East Central Illinois. Grants through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities
Act (WIOA), United Way, and the Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) have provided
the funding for the program.

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Following quickly, in February, the Cunningham Board renewed its efforts to raise $8.5 million
toward the total building cost of $12.8 million for the much needed Education and
Recreation Center (ERC). The ERC would complete Phase II of the Master Campus Plan and
would provide ample space for both academic and therapeutic activities designed to meet
the special needs of Cunningham kids.
In March, Cunningham began to slowly dissolve its Therapeutic Foster Care Program in
anticipation that a new community counseling program, which was being developed, would
serve the emotional/psychological needs of these children and families. In November,
Cunningham’s HopeSprings Counseling Services, located in southwest Champaign, began
offering its counseling expertise directly to youth, adults and families in the community who
were experiencing difficult life situations. Through the first six months, nearly 75 clients were

served. Individuals could now come directly to
Cunningham for services without the need of a
referral. The counselors/therapists at HopeSprings
have diverse training and certifications in a
multitude of areas and are able to address these
situations by offering Trauma-Informed Care
through individual, family and group sessions in
their offices or in the client’s home. The Trauma-
Informed Care treatment adopted by Cunningham
is an organizational structure and treatment
framework that involves understanding,
recognizing and responding to the effects of all
types of trauma and is based on the latest
research in brain science and behavioral health.
HopeSprings served 378 clients during the 2019
Fiscal Year.
The HopeSprings staff understand what has
happened to a young person and/or family and its
far-reaching impact on behavior, self-regulation,
emotional health and the impact that early trauma
has on brain development and emotional
regulation. Youth who have been abused and neglected, exposed to substance abuse in
their families, separated from parents through death or incarceration among other stresses,
benefit most from treatment that helps them learn to communicate more effectively, develop
coping strategies and build self-esteem.
Addie’s life looked much different a year ago and she came to HopeSprings for help. Her
past hurts and traumatic experiences in her childhood left her feeling unloved, unsafe and
unable to control her frequent outbursts of anger and aggression. She didn’t know how to
manage or understand her anger or thoughts of harming herself. Fortunately, Addie did
open up to her HopeSprings therapist Carrie as they worked together. A year later, Addie
was moving forward in her life and had found ways to understand and cope with her issues.
She also found her smile and laughter again, and now actually feels happiness in her life.

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As fundraising continued for the Education and Recreation Center (ERC), including
various donor prospect events and matching gift challenges, the long-awaited official
groundbreaking for the facility occurred in August of 2017. It signified the next step toward
completion of the Phase II Master Campus Plan. Nearly 200 people, including donors, staff,
community leaders, Board members, committee members and students, attended the joyous
ceremony. Construction of the 50,100 sq. ft. state-of-the-art learning environment for
Cunningham residents and community children attending CIRCLE Academy Urbana began
soon thereafter. The ERC would be home to Gerber Educational Program, CIRCLE Academy
Educational Program, a gymnasium, Special Therapies and food services. The new facility
would also include spaces large
enough to accommodate the
special sensory needs of the
students, private spaces for social
workers and therapists to work with
their students and quiet rooms. The
goal was to move into the ERC in
January 2019.
“It’s exciting to watch a dream take
shape,” said Marlin. “Over the last
few months as crews constructed
the foundation, walls and roof for the Education and Recreation Center, I have watched with
great anticipation for an environment where every one of our youth will thrive. Your support
provides the foundation for our work, giving us the room to create a vision and the platform
to carry it out. We are so grateful. And, while we are building for the future, we continue to
survey the landscape of child welfare to determine the best route to move forward.”

Meeting Urgent Community Needs

As construction and fundraising for the ERC progressed, Cunningham continued to expand
its services in the community. In July 2018, Cunningham began offering: Empowering
Connections through Hope and Opportunity (ECHO) and Intensive Placement
Stabilization (IPS). These programs provide counseling expertise, case management,
support for the homeless, stable living assistance and overall well-being for families.

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ECHO is a housing and employment support
program which provides comprehensive
housing, employment and life skills
development to Champaign County’s citizens,
ages 24 and up, who are homeless or at risk of
homelessness. With the goal of providing
resources that create support toward permanent
housing and employment, the staff works with
adults or families who meet these requirements:
the ability to live independently with or without ongoing support, have had a prior residence
in Champaign County, intend to remain a Champaign County resident, and are willing to
actively engage in intensive case management which provides and includes numerous
linkages and referrals in the community.
“Everyone deserves a right to be treated with dignity and respect,” said ECHO Coordinator
Chalaine Davis. “Whether it is mental health or substance abuse issues, or someone just
down on their luck, sometimes people just need that helping hand or boost to get on track.”
Terrie met the requirements and ECHO began providing assistance to her in a number of
ways. With Terrie’s intensive case management services, including numerous linkages and
referrals in the community, she has been able to obtain stable housing. Terrie’s caseworker
helped her get her social security reinstated; and then ECHO assisted her with the security
deposit for a one-bedroom apartment as well as obtaining household items like furniture and
household necessities. ECHO also assisted Terrie in enrolling her son in kindergarten and
connecting her with local resources to help with their mental and physical health well being.
“I absolutely love the ECHO program,” Terrie said. “I don’t know where we would be without
it. I would recommend the program to anyone who is homeless like my son and I were. It has
truly made a huge impact on our lives.” ECHO staff also works with Terrie on her budgeting
skills and helps her maintain her apartment. And, she has remained a productive citizen
and mother.
Participants in the ECHO program receive weekly follow-up services that last 90 days after
they obtain both housing and employment. To aid in retention in the program, participants
receive a minimum of monthly staff contacts for one year before discharge from the program,
and all participants receive a follow-up contact one-year post-discharge to assure housing
and employment retention. Individuals later experiencing housing or employment instability
can return to the program.
As an IPS provider, Cunningham partners with
the Department of Children and Family Services
(DCFS) to serve children and youth who live with
their biological, foster or pre-adoptive families
throughout Champaign, Vermilion, Ford and
Iroquois counties. Marie Duffin, Cunningham
Associate Director of Family Services shared,
“So often, children in the foster care system
experience placement changes and the whole
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spirit and intention of IPS is to prevent this. Our work is really important and special because
we’re trying to prevent children from ever being removed from their homes and that’s a really
beautiful goal.”
The IPS Program is designed to promote DCFS goals of safety, permanency, and provides
short-term services, interventions and support to children and youth with emotional and/or
behavioral problems identified as being at risk of placement disruption.
“In addition to providing our therapeutic services, we also have to be planning for when we
are not there,” Marie explained. “Our program is intended to be short-term and our job is
to provide services quickly and immediately, but we all work together to make a therapeutic
web in the community once we determine what our clients need to be successful.”
Jason, an IPS foster dad, worked with Marie and Paige, IPS Family Services Coordinator. They
helped him learn therapy techniques to enhance his parenting skills and gave him the
ability to advocate for his foster children, brothers
Charles and Zack, in school, at daycare and in the
community. Over time, when Jason decided he was
prepared and wanted to adopt the boys, his IPS team
was right there to help him through the process. “The
support is grand,” he said. “I was blessed with Marie
and Paige, a great professional team. Marie was our
family’s ‘duct tape’ and Paige was our ‘wet wipes.’
Every home needs duct tape and every family with kids
needs a wet wipe from time to time. During our family
therapy, Marie was a bridge between the age gap,
and the dad/son dynamic to keep the worlds stuck
together. Paige was a great breath of fresh air with
research, play dates and support with things. My life
has never had more purpose. My life has never had
more light on the way. I know what happiness looks like. Our plans for the future are simple,
grow happy together. Oh, and start working on that college fund for two!”

Education and Recreation Center Opens!

In January 2019, Cunningham met its building goal
in completing the Master Campus Plan Phase II.
The doors of the Education and Recreation
Center (ERC) were opened, and the kids started
the New Year in their new school! CIRCLE
Academy Educational Program and food services
moved into their new “home” in January, followed
in February by the Gerber Educational Program
and the Special Therapies Department. Also in
February, the first basketball game was played in
the new official size gymnasium with observers in

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the bleachers! The official dedication and an open house were held that March.
The ERC was renamed the Noel Education Center (NEC) in honor and memory of Rosann
Gelvin Noel as the Noel Family are longtime Cunningham supporters. The NEC is home to:
• Gerber Educational Program
• CIRCLE Academy Educational Program
• Coach Lou and Mary Henson Gymnasium, including locker rooms and a fitness room

(named for longtime supporters Lou and Mary Henson)
• Kendall Gill Basketball Court (named for longtime supporters Kendall and Wendy Gill)
• Special Therapies’ therapeutic programs that include recreation and music.
• Art Therapy room shared by Gerber, CIRCLE and Special Therapies
• Beulah Schmidt Cafeteria/food services area (named in honor and memory of lifelong

supporter Beulah Schmidt).
Each area is designed specifically to meet the special needs of all Cunningham kids with
ample space for each program to work in groups or individually. There are sensory rooms
with equipment to help teach self-regulation and build motor skills. The acoustics, lighting,
and furnishings in the NEC were selected to meet the kids’ special needs.
Cunningham’s educational, recreational, and therapeutic programs were now under one
roof so teachers, therapists and other staff could work more closely together. Jennifer Rohn,
principal at Gerber Educational Program, shared her observations on the impact that the
NEC provided for the kids: “Moving to the new Noel Education Center (NEC) has provided

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many benefits to the Gerber Education
Program. Classroom size in the NEC is
much more generous than in the
old Gerber building, allowing for
spatial needs and flexible grouping
opportunities. In addition, each
classroom has a smaller support room
attached where teachers can pull
individual students or small groups of
students for testing or individualized
lessons. This flexibility allows teachers
to differentiate more fully and minimize
lost instructional time for transitions.”
Previously, the Gerber Education
Program was spread across four
different buildings so staff and students
had to transition outside many times
during the school day. Weather, like wanting to avoid rainy, cold or snowy transitions or linger
too long on beautiful sunny days, often caused issues with students. There were also safety
and supervision concerns but with the NEC, teachers and staff are able to respond more
quickly since they are now under one roof. The proximity also allows greater flexibility in
providing academic support with teacher assistants able to fluidly move between
classrooms when needs arise on a daily or even hourly basis. Teachers feel more a part of a
collaborative team, especially Ms. Jess, whose previous classroom was located outside of the
old main Gerber building. In the NEC, she appreciates the close proximity to restrooms,
water fountains and copy machines and said how much easier it is now for her team to
communicate with the rest of the staff.
There are two designated small sensory rooms and a large shared sensory space in the NEC
which all house a variety of tools and strategies to meet Occupational Therapy (OT) and
emotional needs. Another benefit, albeit unexpected, is the large main hallway that works
perfectly for motor sensory needs such as OT compression activities and regulation walks or
jogs. An office space for a social worker and crisis counselors, allowing students a
private space to process through emotions with a trusted adult, is also a great addition. The

added space and the new features help teachers
and staff better meet the needs of students on the
autism spectrum and those with significant trauma
in their past. “All of our students and staff have had
positive responses to the new building,” Principal
Rohn said. “Before we officially moved in, we were
able to bring classroom groups through for a tour.
This was one of my favorite experiences at Gerber
School! The joy in kids’ faces seeing their brand new
classrooms and the new amazing gym space was
priceless. ‘This is our class?! We get to learn here?!’”

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Students and staff alike said they felt so cared for with a new building with new furniture
and supplies, specifically designed for them. The kids were in awe that they got to use a
beautiful “real” gym for P.E. every day. “Gerber has many students and staff who love
basketball so seeing their smiles the first time they got to bounce and shoot a ball in the
new gym is something I will never forget,” Principal Rohn said.

Mike Shannon, ParaEd Case Manager (formally called
Therapeutic Interventionist), at CIRCLE Academy Urbana
had been working with Cunningham kids and youth since
1994. He began in Cunningham’s Residential Care in
Trevett Cottage and later worked in Goodman Cottage.
In 2005, Mike moved to CIRCLE Academy Urbana. He
shared his reactions of the day he and the CIRCLE kids
moved into the NEC: “Wow! This is exciting! We have a
new building to move into where we can all be in the same
learning space. I was so excited when we finally moved
into our brand new school! When our students got off their
buses that cold January morning, they had that “WOW”
look on
their
faces—
and they
were wondering how it was going to be in
their new building. They were all going to
be in one building; into new classrooms
with all the equipment they would need
right there! It was an exciting day and that
feeling of the newness, freshness and joy of
that day gets renewed every time we come
back from a school break. It is those first day feelings again: cool, new and the right way
to start!”

HOPEBUILDERS WALL
The Hopebuilders Wall, located at the
entrance of the Rosann Gelvin Noel
Education Center (NEC), recognizes the
more than 300 donors who made major
gifts to the campaign to build the NEC
and the Coach Lou and Mary Henson
Gymnasium. Because of these donors,
and so many more, Cunningham youth
are getting the best education possible
in a positive and motivating environment.

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