Building Trades Council makes $1,000 donation to Will County Children’s Advocacy Center

August 18

JOLIET – The Will-Grundy Counties Building Trades Council will present Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow with a $1,000 check to benefit the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center before Saturday night’s Joliet Jackhammers home game.

Tom White, president of the council, will make the presentation to the state’s attorney during Union Night at Silver Cross Field in downtown Joliet. The game starts at 7:05 p.m.

Glasgow established the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center in 1995 to protect children from the ravages of sexual assault and physical abuse.

The center’s goal is to assist law enforcement in obtaining statements from sexually abused children that will hold up in court, helping prosecutors obtain convictions against sexual predators. Victim-sensitive interviews with children are conducted in a non-threatening environment and videotaped for use at criminal trials.

“I want to thank the Will-Grundy Counties Building Trades Council for supporting the important work conducted by the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center,” Glasgow said. “Since the center’s formation 11 years ago, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of convictions against dangerous sexual predators.”

During 2005 alone, the center’s staff conducted 460 child-sensitive interviews, many of which were used by Glasgow’s prosecutors to convict pedophiles during trials or to secure guilty pleas from child sex offenders.

The Building Trades Council’s membership consists of roughly 30 local unions, many of which have generously provided individual financial support to the Children’s Advocacy Center.

The center is a not-for-profit agency that relies on grants and donations from local businesses, organizations and units of government to operate.

“Our local labor unions have always stepped up to the plate to support agencies that do important work in the community,” Glasgow said. “I’m extremely gratified and proud that the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center also is a beneficiary of that support.”

For more information on the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center or to make a donation that will help protect our children, call (815) 727-0710 or visit on the Web at http://www.willcountychildadvocacy.com and click on donations.