Leopardo helps to launch Will County Children’s Advocacy Center’s Corporate Partnership Program with $10,000 contribution

May 23

JOLIET – Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow was pleased recently to accept a $10,000 contribution on behalf of the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center from the Leopardo Charitable Foundation.

The Leopardo Charitable Foundation (LCF) was established by Leopardo Companies, Inc., one of the nation’s largest and most respected construction firms. Leopardo is the first company to make a contribution through a new Corporate Partnership Program established by the not-for-profit Will County Children’s Advocacy Center.

State’s Attorney Glasgow, who established the Children’s Advocacy Center in 1995 and chairs its Board of Directors, thanked Leopardo for helping to launch the Corporate Partnership Program with such a generous donation. Leopardo Senior Vice President Leigh McMillen visited the center recently to make the contribution.

“Leopardo’s significant donation to the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center embodies the very definition of corporate responsibility and community service,” State’s Attorney Glasgow said. “This important contribution will enable the Center to continue its critical mission of providing hope, healing, and justice for abused children.”

Every year, LCF assists dozens of charities and not-for-profit agencies that promote education, health, and technology and support the well-being of citizens in communities that the construction firm serves.

In Will County, Leopardo last year broke ground on a new 85,000-square-foot public safety complex for the Will County Sheriff’s Department at U.S. 52 and Laraway Road. The two-story complex will house the Sheriff’s Department’s offices, a 911 dispatch center to serve more than 30 communities, detention facilities, and facilities for evidence processing, property storage and vehicle processing. Leopardo is serving as construction manager and is providing preconstruction and construction services in collaboration with architect DLR Group. The project is on track for completion this year.

“Leopardo through its charitable foundation is proud to support the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center and the important services it provides,” said Leopardo Senior Vice President Leigh McMillen. “In addition to being dedicated to the core values of kindness, goodwill, compassion and benevolence, Leopardo and its charitable foundation seek to support the communities we build in. We are proud to give back to the County through the Children’s Advocacy Center and its Corporate Partnership Program. ”

State’s Attorney Glasgow established the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center as a 501-(c)-3 charitable organization in 1995 to vastly improve investigations into cases involving the sexual abuse of children. Today, when children make outcries of sexual abuse, they are brought to the center, where trained and compassionate forensic interviewers obtain accurate statements in a neutral, non-suggestive and child-friendly environment. Interviews recorded at the Children’s Advocacy Center have been used in the successful prosecution of thousands of child predators over the last two decades.

In addition, the center’s experienced staff provides children and families with counseling, medical exams, legal advocacy, community resource referrals and other social services to enable the healing process to begin.

For information on the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center or its Corporate Partnership Program, contact Executive Director Lisa Morel Las at (815) 774-4565 or email lmlas@willcountyillinois.com.