Nonprofit Focus: Cornerstone Counseling Center of Chicago

This is the first in a series of 12 posts, each highlighting a nonprofit organization that I care about and want to raise awareness of and money for. Enjoy!


We all get stressed, right? And when you do, hopefully you have a great friend or loved one who can sit down with you and talk it out...giving you encouragement, or some hard but necessary advice, or providing a different perspective that puts you in a whole new frame of mind. But what do you do when you don't have someone like that in your life? Or, what can you do if your problems are getting more complex and serious than a friend can help with?

The Cornerstone Counseling Center of Chicago (CCCoC) is a nonprofit organization that provides sliding fee scale counseling services to any and all who need them. They do individual, child, family and couples counseling, as well as all kinds of seminars on all sorts of topics. CCCoC has full time therapists, as well as masters and doctoral level interns, so they're also working on training the next generation of professionals.

I care about this non-profit for two main reasons - first, they're a ministry of LaSalle Street Church, where I've been attending since 1999 and a member since 2010. Second, I've got some very close people to me who have really benefited from counseling - mental illness can be debilitating, affecting your relationships with others and your whole orientation towards life. And therapy can be the start of healing, as you talk through the issues in your life with a caring, skilled guide. It's powerful stuff. I also love the work that they do in schools - as a teacher myself, I know that some kids really need the attention and focus of a loving adult on their development. The counselors help students work on their behavioral and emotional issues, which then allows the student to concentrate on their academics. I appreciate that as a faith-based organization, CCCoC attends to a person's spiritual state as part of their whole health.

So here's why you should give to this organization - while counseling services can be life-changing and are often covered by insurance, if you don't have insurance or can't afford the co-pay, then it can be financially impossible to find quality help. Your donation can provide services to a person, couple, or family in need.

If you're interested in learning more about CCCoC, check out their website at http://www.chicagocounseling.org/ and consider signing up to attend their annual benefit dinner on Thursday, March 15, 2012 - I'll be there and would love to see you! If you're interested in giving a financial donation to support the awesome work of this ministry, you can do so by clicking on the yellow "Make a Donation" button at this link: http://www.chicagocounseling.org/help/giving_opportunities.php. Please just let me know via email, so that I can include the amount in my grand total of fundraising!

First race of the year! Chicago Polar Dash 10K Race Recap

Just before the start

This morning I competed in my first race of 2012: the Chicago Polar Dash 10K (that's just over 6.2 miles for those not metrically-minded.) 20 degrees? Check! Over 7 inches of snowfall the day before, and lake effect flurries continuing throughout the course of the race? Check! Pros: Continually available hydration, just stick out your tongue! Cons: Slower finish time due to extra energy spent constantly blinking the flakes away. (Just kidding. I'm slow no matter what. Hence the blog name!)

Despite the wintry weather, I was not at all cold before, during, or after the race - the right gear really can make all the difference. (For those considering doing some outdoor winter running themselves, here's what worked for me: fleece-lined running tights with an extra pair of those really lightweight waterproof/windproof pants on top, plus smart wool socks and my regular running shoes. I wore plastic grocery bags over my shoes as I trudged through un-shovelled snow on my way to the train, but took them off when I arrived. On my top half, I had a long-sleeved sweat-wicking shirt, a lightweight sweatshirt, then my Northwestern jacket, which is water and wind-proof on the outside and like a sweatshirt on the inside, and has a hood that I can pull tight around my face (this was key). Cheap knit gloves, a fleece hat, and I was good to go!) And it wasn't at all slippery - I didn't see anyone go down the whole time. There was only one short section that hadn't been plowed as well as the rest, and running through the mushy snow was like running through sand - it took so much more energy, thank goodness the rest wasn't the same!

Heading around the aquarium - see the snow falling?

I love doing races downtown next to the lake, because I have such good memories of all my previous ones - the run course today covered basically the same route as the run for the Chicago Triathlon, and I got all nostalgic for years past, and excited about this upcoming year. It was fun to look out over the frozen Monroe Harbor, in the quiet stillness of winter, and imagine the colorful neon-capped heads of triathletes in the water and the cheering of the crowd and the loud buzzer marking the start of each new wave of swimmers.

My body felt great for the entire race - which was pretty awesome, given that I'd only managed 5 workouts in the past 3 weeks in preparation for it. My comfort was certainly partly due to my leisurely effort: I finished in 1 hour, 14 minutes and 25 seconds (11:59 minutes per mile), coming in 521st out of all 669 people, and 66th out of 82 females aged 25 - 29. Ever since I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2006, I like to check my time against the oldest person to run the race - unfortunately for my pride, a 62-years-young woman from here in Chicago did beat me with a time of 56 minutes and 5 seconds (and should I mention that 75% of the men in the 60-64 age group beat me too?). Racing slowly indeed! :)

All in all, I had a fabulous time, a smile on my face the whole way. A good start to my Year of Racing Slowly!

After the race, getting properly re-hydrated at Starbucks.