arci Sadler and Ken Lundquist are real estate developers.
They do not hide that fact. They do not possess any magical vision. They see what everyone sees.
However, they have the ability to take a deeper, more introspective look. In the case of the Deer Ridge Barn Wedding & Events property, at least Sadler had the ability.
After purchasing a mostly abandoned 2,500-square-foot, two-story, four-bedroom farmhouse along West 1500N Road in Limestone on a blind bid of $175,777, along with its 10 acres, as a property flip, Sadler began to imagine “what if?”
For those wondering, the $777 part of the bid was Lundquist’s idea. It was a nod to good luck.
The question kept swirling in Sadler’s always-busy mind. She couldn’t let the idea go.
After percolating on the idea, she approached Lundquist and their Deer Ridge business partner, Mike Blum, of Limestone, with her concept.
They looked at each other. They agreed. The wheels were set in motion.
The two men conceded that Sadler is the “idea” person. She can see things they pass over.
The plan to simply “flip” the abandoned farmhouse was scrapped. They were going to take on the entire property. The plan was to transform it into an event property the area had not yet seen.
The mission has been accomplished. The location has caught on.
“When I walked into this barn,” Sadler said, “I just saw the character and the uniqueness. I thought ‘People will come here. I wanted to save this.’”
The question, of course, was could this work?
The answer is yes.
In 2024, Deer Ridge hosted 42 events. Thus far in 2025, 70 events are scheduled in the
quaint, wooden location.
The group sometimes feels they need to pinch themselves at the success and the rave reviews they are experiencing.
But it comes about through hard work and dedication. They leave no stone unturned when guests arrive.
The site was initially used as a seasonal site as accommodations didn’t allow for yearround events. The main banquet room is now heated.
Lundquist said the to-do list includes adding air conditioning. That upgrade will most likely take place sometime in 2025.
“If you had asked me five years ago if this was something I would be involved with, I would have said absolutely not,” Lundquist said.
Labor of love
But his mindset has all changed.
“I love this business. I’m very passionate,” he said.
There are many things on that to-do list. He said it seems like when one item is checked off, another one or two are added.
“We are always looking at improvements. We see the value here. It’s a labor of love here.”
Site rentals are basically on an 80-20 local versus out-of-town basis, Sadler said. She noted some events have been booked by groups from Tinley Park, Frankfort, Chicago, Iowa and Kentucky.
Since purchasing the site in November 2020, the trio has been busy.
The group hosts weddings, family reunions,
Bill Jurevich for Shaw Local News Network
Deer Ridge Barn Wedding & Events owners (from left) Michael Blum, Marci Sadler and Ken Lundquist pose for a photo. The venue sits on 10 wooded acres in Limestone.
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class reunions and corporate gatherings in the 60-by-30-foot restored barn.
Thus far, $700,000 to $800,000 has been invested in property upgrades.
They added restrooms to the banquet “barn.” The addition also included space for the mechanicals. Those two projects – which added 900 square feet to the structure – were aided by a 2024 Kankakee area tourism grant.
A 60-by-30-foot wooden pavilion was added to the barn as well.
“Right away we decided we need a covered area,” Sadler said of the pavilion.
It has become one of the favorite gathering spots for guests as its views are priceless.
Never a doubt
Lundquist was asked a sensitive question: What would have happened to the property if the banquet barn failed to gather
guests?
The answer came easy.
“If it didn’t work we would have moved out here,” he joked.
Maybe they would have or maybe they wouldn’t. It is likely a decision they will not need to wrestle with. The 2028 event calendar is currently being filled.
“And a lot of people don’t know we are out here yet,” Sadler said.
Looking around the property as a tour is given, Lundquist was asked if the property had exceeded his expectations thus far.
It has.
But he was quick to add his mindset is always to win and he doesn’t just settle. He wants things to be their best.
“I’ve never doubted this,” Lundquist said. Blum said much the same: “I knew it was going to succeed.”
“We’ve been blessed,” Sadler said. “We see the value. We want to help make it grow and prosper.”
For more information, visit deerridgebarn.com.
COLLEGE COSTS COVERED AT KCC
• DEER RIDGE BARN
Photos provided by Deer Ridge
ABOVE: A wedding party takes photos during a celebration at Deer Ridge Barn Wedding & Events in Limestone. BELOW: A couple gets married at Deer Ridge Barn.
St. Anne schools merge to expand opportunities for students Stronger together
By STEPHANIE MARKHAM smarkham@shawmedia.com
Getting a referendum passed to consolidate St. Anne’s grade school and high school into one district was an undertaking years in the making, but it was far from the final step in merging the two entities.
The focus has not changed at any point during the process – offering the best educational experience for students.
“The driving force here behind everything we do is to provide opportunities for kids,” Superintendent Charles Stegall said. “K-12, we are unified in what we are doing, and honestly, we are proud of it.”
The Daily Journal recognizes St. Anne School District 24 for Excellence in Education as part of the 2025 Progress Awards.
The district began operating July 1, 2024, after area voters approved a referendum in March 2024.
Current legislation allowed the formation of a hybrid district in which Pembroke School District 259, which feeds into St. Anne Community High School, could opt out of consolidation.
Village support
St. Anne Mayor Dave O’Connell was “100% behind” the move.
Consolidation efforts were on the table 20 years ago, when O’Connell was a member of the St. Anne Grade School Board, but were unsuccessful then.
“Now with this being in place, to me, it sets the village up for success for our students going into the future,” O’Connell said.
The St. Anne grade school and high school boards, which have since been replaced with one seven-member board,
resumed exploring the idea in the 2019-20 school year.
“Anything that was going to be beneficial to the students is basically what our main goal was and still is,” St. Anne School Board
President Aaron Hays said.
Town hall meetings were held to be as open with the community about the process and goals as possible.
“The unity between the two schools
being as one, I think, was a big improvement,” Hays said.
Teachers adapt
Neal Buck, instructional technologist for the district and president of the St. Anne Education Association, which has about 40 members, said forming a new contract was a significant task.
“To work together with teachers from both buildings, both former districts, to cre-
ate one contract we could all work under, that would treat everybody fairly, was probably our biggest step moving forward,” he said.
The result was a three-year contract that sought to combine the best aspects of both previous agreements.
Incentive dollars from the state of Illinois are provided to help districts and unions negotiate for the first three to four years after consolidation.
“Bringing the grade school’s base salary up to the high school’s was a huge thing for young teachers at the grade school,” Buck said.
High school teachers closer to retirement saw greater benefits when transitioning from the grade school’s contract. Insurance benefits increasing to the high school’s rate helped many teachers as well.
Tiffany Blanchette photos
St. Anne Grade School students joyfully cheer for St. Anne High School basketball players during a collaborative event called Math Madness held March 20 at the high school. The newly formed St. Anne School District 24, a consolidation of the high school and grade school districts, is being recognized with a 2025 Progress Award for Excellence in Education.
St. Anne Unit District 24 superintendent Charles Stegall (center) stands with office staff members Jill Cowsert (left) and Lisa Stalnecker at the school’s administrative office with chairs displaying the grade school and high school mascots, the Giants and Cardinals, respectively.
Working
run.
Opportunities for coaches to work together also have been appreciated.
The grade school can now use the high school’s athletic facilities without needing a facility use request.
“We’re going to grow academically. We’re going to grow athletically,” Buck said. “Just watch, we’ll be on the map.”
St. Anne Grade School Principal Scott Strong said junior high teachers have been coming to the high school monthly to focus on articulation in the curriculum.
“Really, we worked well together beforehand, too, just being a block away,” Strong said.
Down to the details
Lisa Stalnecker, bookkeeper and human resources representative, and Jill Cowsert, superintendent’s secretary and assistant bookkeeper, along with other office staff, had their work cut out for them last summer.
The majority of that work included combining two payroll databases into one, along with updating agencies such as the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and Teachers Retirement Sys -
tem, establishing a new tax identification number, and merging funds from the former districts into one account.
“It involved a lot of behind-thescenes stuff that people don’t see,” Stalnecker said.
Stalnecker said the consolidation is
“huge progress” for the community.
“It’s nice to see that glass wall broken down,” Cowsert added.
School, community pride
St. Anne High School Principal Ben O’Brien said the biggest change has been increasing the connection to the grade school.
“We kind of each lived in our own silos, and now we are all thinking collectively in our decision-making process to make sure we are doing what’s best for kids K-12,” he said.
O’Brien also has seen a “significant increase in community pride.”
“One of the goals of the consolidation that I think we are seeing achieved is kids from the grade school being excited about coming to the high school,” O’Brien said.
There have been more opportunities for older and younger students to interact during games, activities and events.
“Ultimately, we’re always trying to create a culture of family,” O’Brien said. “Where people take care of people and everyone has each other’s backs.”
For more information, visit stanne24.org.
We
StayintheGame:
Tiffany Blanchette
St. Anne Grade School Principal Scott Strong (left) and St. Anne High School Principal Ben O’Brien are leading their schools in the first year of the consolidated St. Anne School District 24.
Restoring communities
Kankakee Land Bank works to revitalize abandoned properties, combat blight
By CHRISTOPHER BREACH cbreach@shawmedia.com
The Kankakee Regional Land Bank Authority is an outside-the-box concept to get vacant and abandoned properties back on the tax rolls while ridding communities of blighted areas that can stunt growth.
Through an intergovernmental agreement between Kankakee County and the city of Kankakee, the land bank was created in 2021, but it is just now making some headway in its mission. Progress was made after the Rev. Montele Crawford was hired in early 2023 as KRLBA’s executive director.
Early this year the land bank took ownership of the former Jaffe Drugs building at 217 E. Court St. in downtown Kankakee and is getting the property cleaned up to be sold to a developer or individual who can bring the address back to life.
The land bank also transformed a vacant duplex on South Washington Street in Kankakee into a functioning occupied living space. It also demolished a couple of rural Kankakee County dilapidated properties and is in the process of closing the sales on the vacant land.
“I really can’t sum it up as one individual project,” Crawford said. “I think it’s more so in fact, that we started from ground zero with just an intergovernmental agreement. And really no experience at land banking on anybody’s part, and so to be where we are now, starting basically with zero to now having a database in place, having disposed of one property, still making plans to acquire more, having finally acquired the Jaffe building is a big step for us.
“I would say it’s where we are in totality – social media page, the website – all of that is a big deal for me, based upon where we started.”
For how far the KRLBA has come in 2024, it is presented with the 2025 Progress Award for Innovator in Real Estate.
Lisa Sanford, a local Realtor, is the chairman of the KRLBA Board of Directors, and she said the work being done is extremely important to the Kankakee County community.
“That’s why all of us are volunteers and have been putting in the time every single month that we meet,“ she said. “Because we think that it is important. It’s been a slower process in the beginning than what we see here going forward because so much of the
legal work has been done.
“Now we are really rolling up our sleeves and moving better to get the properties identified, and then again, you have to go through the legal process for the land bank to be able to acquire.”
The land bank acquires properties through tax foreclosure auctions, donations or purchases from private owners. Once acquired, the land bank may clear up title issues and prepare properties for demolition or reuse by selling to developers, transferring to community-based organizations or maintaining for future use.
Gaining ownership of the Jaffe building is the biggest acquisition so far with a lot of potential for its future use. Crawford said he’s already heard from three potential buyers.
“That’s part of our mission, to bring properties back to life,” he said. “That’s why we’ve been given the kind of powers that we have as an intergovernmental agency to bring properties back to life and to ensure that process.”
Crawford said the land bank isn’t yet able to handle the entire process independently.
“It’s helpful for us to have a clean and clear vetting process to have qualified professionals who can take ownership of property, along with the deed restriction to bring it back to life.”
The former Jaffe Drugs building is close to being cleaned up so a developer can take the reins and turn it into a viable property in the heart of downtown Kankakee and get it back on the tax rolls.
“It’s not just about the taxes,” Crawford said. “It’s also about just the feel downtown.
It’s about the look and the feel of the city. I think bringing it back does something more than just put taxes back into the coffers.”
The KRLBA is a regional agency, and it can address problem properties anywhere in Kankakee County. It recently demolished two homes beyond repair – one on South Illinois Route 115 and one on East Base Line Road – and will soon sell the land to adjacent homeowners.
“They’re excited and happy about that,” Crawford said. “We’re actually in the closing process now.”
Commitment from the city
Board member Barbi Brewer-Watson, the executive director of the Economic and Community Development Agency for the city, said Kankakee is fully committed to the KRLBA.
“The city has been very committed to the land bank, the organization as a whole, but also to the process of land banking and how it can help us combat the blighted properties that we always have challenges with here,” she said.
In essence, the city has been leading the charge and had the land bank feasibility study done in 2017 to start the process.
“[The city] has always been a big champion for the work that the land bank can do,” she said.
Not slowing down Crawford said he is working through a list of approximately 115 properties and has eliminated about 25 or so. The focus moving forward is targeting boarded-up properties.
INNOVATOR
Problems exist when the properties are purchased, taxes are paid but they remain boarded up. The land bank can put a lien on the property to get the owner to turn it over to them so it can be fixed up or demolished.
Board member Matt Olszewski, a senior vice president/chief lending officer for Peoples Bank of Kankakee County, said that is where the land bank can have an impact.
“That is where we’re going to show the worth of the land bank to the community,” he said. “This house was boarded-up and now it’s not. ... Residents don’t care if it’s open ground, but they do care that there’s a boarded-up house.”
The land bank can work with local governments on a boarded-up home listing or where the city or village has a grass-cutting list where those houses are vacant.
“We have to be aggressive,” said Olszewski of getting those properties back on the tax rolls.
“It’s a process that we have to try to go through, but hopefully we’ll be able to make some headway in that area and get some of those properties back to life,” Crawford said.
Another tool the land bank has is that it’s the only land bank in the state with a deed restriction. If someone buys a property at a tax sale, there is a deed restriction that they have to make it inhabitable within 12 months. If not, the property goes back into the tax sale process.
“We want to try to just make sure that when people buy something in a tax sale, that they are going to bring it back to life,” Sanford said.
For more information, visit krlba.org.
Tiffany Blanchette photos
Members of the Kankakee Regional Land Bank Authority stand outside the former Jaffe Drugs building at 217 E. Court St. in downtown Kankakee, which the agency took ownership of early this year. For how far the KRLBA has come in 2024, it is presented with the 2025 Progress Award for Innovator in Real Estate.
NUMBER OF YEARS SERVING THE COMMUNITY 2025
Cutting-edge technology
Riverside provides local stroke procedures with new neurointerventional system
By JEFF BONTY jbonty@shawmedia.com
Providing top health care procedures in the Greater Kankakee County area starts with the dedicated team at Riverside Healthcare.
From the person seated at the front desk to its president and CEO, Phil Kambic, they are all members of the team.
“It’s always about the team, the team, the team. That is very important,” Dr. Jehad Zakaria reiterated during an interview with members of the neurosurgical team that leads Riverside’s new neurointerventional biplane angiography system.
It is a $3 million medical imaging device that uses two X-ray sources and detectors to simultaneously capture high-resolution, three-dimensional images of blood vessels in the brain and spinal cord.
Riverside is a certified primary stroke center by DNV Healthcare, offering treatments for ischemic (blood clots or particles blocking blood vessels) and hemorrhagic (an artery in the brain leaks blood), Hiser said.
DNV Healthcare is an approved hospital accreditation organization through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
There are approximately 40 team members from the front-desk personnel to the neurosurgeons.
“Teamwork is everything. We cannot function without one another,” said nurse Reta Smolkovich, the clinical team lead/ procedural care. She has worked at Riverside for the past 15 years.
The imaging device and teamwork are key reasons Riverside Healthcare is honored as the Daily Journal’s Progress 2025
Innovator in Healthcare.
“Riverside does a great job innovating and keeping people here for treatment. The administration and board members are open and welcome innovation,” said nurse Krystal Hiser, director of Perioperative & Interventional Services.
“So the types of patients that we’ll be treating specifically in this room is ischemic stroke, and then we’ll also be doing diagnostic and interventional procedures as more of a preventative care for stroke,” Hiser said.
“We can bring the patient in, we can image the structures of the brain and the blood vessels, and then we can do interventions after that.”
An ischemic stroke is where blood flow and oxygen have been reduced to a part of the body.
Since the end of February, the team has performed three procedures on local patients.
Allowing patients the opportunity to receive treatment locally is important to Riverside, Kambic said.
“We can give great tertiary care right here in Kankakee. And the people who come to us can stay in the area. It’s much less of a
INNOVATOR IN HEALTHCARE SPONSORED BY
hardship for them. Much less a hardship on the patient,” he said.
Providing top care is a keystone for Riverside Healthcare.
“The key is giving comprehensive care to patients here. That is just what they need,” Zakaria said.
During an open house of the neurological biplane imaging suite in February, Zakaria discussed how these capabilities will facilitate faster evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of stroke and other neurovascular conditions.
In the case of stroke, time lost equals brain loss, so having this capability at Riverside can lead to fewer delays, better health outcomes, and the chance for people to receive treatment close to home, instead of having to be sent up to the city for treatment, Zakaria said.
For the past year, Zakaria was at Loyola University Medical Center as part of a fellowship learning how to operate with the new equipment.
Kambic said the need to be an innovator started with Riverside’s first president and CEO, Robert Miller.
“He added a lot of programs … Our
behavioral unit, most hospitals don’t have that. Bob Miller saw that it was needed in our community,” Kambic said.
“There is in-patient rehab, we have our senior housing. Most hospitals don’t have all of those components. Bob Miller started all of that.”
Riverside’s second president and CEO, Dennis Millirons, furthered the hospital’s innovative side.
“Dennis Millirons started our clinics and employed physicians for them,” said Kambic, who is Riverside’s third and latest president and CEO.
“I’m the lucky one. I get to carry on some of that innovation.”
Kambic said from start to finish it took three years to get Riverside’s new neurointerventional biplane angiography system to fruition.
It started with doctors dedicated to treating patients with cutting-edge technology. From there it was discussed with Kambic, who took it to the board of directors. The talks turned to financing and construction, which took a year, he said.
More innovation is coming for Riverside in 2025.
Kambic said at the Bourbonnais campus, there is a new positron emission tomography (PET) imaging scan that uses a radioactive tracer to check for signs of cancer, heart disease and brain disorders.
Also new is a computed tomography (CT) scan, a medical imaging technique that uses X-rays and computers to create detailed cross-sectional images of the body, aiding in the diagnosis and treatment of various conditions.
These, too, will allow patients to stay local rather than heading to Chicago for tests.
Kambic was born and raised in Kankakee. He is proud of the roots he has here both personally and professionally.
He is pleased with what Riverside Healthcare brings to the community.
“We have world-class health care offered in Kankakee County,” he said. For more information, visit riversidehealthcare.org.
Photos provided by Riverside Healthcare
Phil Kambic, president and CEO of Riverside Healthcare in Kankakee, along with medical staff, talk with Krystal Hiser, Riverside’s director of perioperative and interventional services, about the new Neurointerventional Biplane Imaging Suite during an open house event in February.
Dr. Jehad Zakaria
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KANKAKEE – Kankakee County has seen an influx of capital improvements over the past five years, totaling $2.5 billion spread among several manufacturers and businesses.
That astounding number was accentuated during a presentation by Tim Nugent, president and CEO of the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County.
Tied to that number is $8.8 billion of products exported from Kankakee County during the same period.
“It wasn’t that long ago we used to talk in the millions of dollars,” Nugent said. “Now, all of a sudden, those numbers have changed. Over the course of the last five years, we’re now talking billions of dollars that have been invested here in Kankakee County. That’s a lot of new money that’s coming into our area.”
Four recent projects have been the anchor for that investment:
• $2 billion into the Gotion lithium battery plant in Manteno
• $35 million in upgrades at CSL Behring in Bourbonnais Township to support a 5.6-acre electrical substation onsite
• $5 million renovation at Heartland Harvest in Kankakee
• $4.1 million into the Ken Hayes Industrial Park in Bradley.
“It’s a great thing that there’s new money, new jobs and new things that are happening throughout the county,” Nugent said.
The Gotion plant has the potential for 2,600 jobs over the entire build-out of the plant, while Heartland Harvest’s parent company, Our Home, is relocating all production lines to the Kankakee site, bringing an additional 90 employees.
The $8.8 billion in products exported dispels the myth that there’s nothing made in Kankakee County, Nugent said.
“The Economic Alliance has submitted 110 projects to the state of Illinois, as they’re always looking to find land or find buildings for companies that they might have that are looking
to potentially locate in Illinois,” he said.
In addition to Gotion taking over the former Kmart distribution center, Lowe’s took over a vacant Sears warehouse in Diversatech in Manteno. Currently, the Economic Alliance is working with a commercial real estate company to attract a company to fill a 500,000-square-foot facility in Diversatech.
“We work with the Realtors, we work with the state, we work with the federal government in order to try to attract businesses into the county,” Nugent said.
The CSL expansion and the Gotion plant are two of the largest projects in Illinois in the past five years. The CSL project entails huge infrastructure investments in its power grid and wastewater system.
“That’s a positive sign,” Nugent said. “Multinational companies don’t invest money underground in an infrastructure unless they have plans for the future.”
The $4.1-million investment in the former Roper site in the old David Bradley Manufacturing building comes from a federal grant that will be used to renovate and repair the roof of the building. This upgrade will allow companies to remain.
Nugent said about 140 people work at Ken Hayes, including Arctic Snow and Greif Manufacturing.
Housing still needed
The investment in new houses hasn’t kept up with capital improvements. There’s still a sharp need for increased housing inventory.
Nugent noted that in the early 2000s, there were 600 to 700 new Kankakee County homes built per year. The Great Recession of 2008-09 put a halt to that expansion. In the past 10 to 15 years, fewer than 100 homes per year have been built.
“We really need to do what we can to spur some housing development because we’ve got the need,” he said.
Incentives can help builders construct more homes in the area, whether local or national companies are doing the work. One incentive is establishing enterprise zones.
An enterprise zone gives economic incentives for builders by waiving sales tax on building materials they
purchase for new homes, reduced or exemption of building permit fees for new homes and real estate taxes can be laddered over five or six years, depending on each municipality.
In July 2023, the county board expanded the enterprise zone in areas of Manteno, Momence, Grant Park, parts of Kankakee County and Hopkins Park.
“So anything that we can do in order to try to entice local builders, which not many of them exist anymore, or even potentially bring in a national builder that could build a multitude of homes, we definitely have a need for more housing in the area,” Nugent said.
Quality of life
Also part of the alliance’s report was the improvements local municipalities are undertaking. Those improvements include the East Riverwalk in Kankakee. Phase 1 of the 4-mile, nearly $5 million project broke ground in January.
The completion of Phase 1 of the natural gas pipeline in Pembroke Township has connected 98 residential and six commercial properties. Included in that is the new Eva’s Pizza in Hopkins Park. Phase 2 is 86% complete and Phase 3 is 42% finished.
Bradley has invested $45 million in the Bradley Sports Complex, which encompasses 126 acres and includes 12 baseball and softball diamonds among other amenities. It will open this summer.
Bradley also has committed to a $79.5 million indoor water park projected to open in 2027.
Bourbonnais recently completed its $18 million community campus in the center of the village. The 12.5-acre complex includes a performing arts stage, viewing hill, walking trails, splash pad, six firepits, skate park and concession stand.
Manteno has continued to upgrade its parks with a focus on recreation. Those projects include pickleball courts, bocce ball courts, a Wiffle ball field, sand volleyball and soccer facilities and a fishing pier.
“When we talk to companies that are looking to potentially come here, they want to know that ‘if I’m going to come spend millions of dollars in your community, I want to know that your communities are investing money on themselves,‘” Nugent said.
Brachytherapy to treat cancer A targeted and effective approach
Advancements in cancer treatment are evolving daily. This is especially true inside the doors of Riverside Cancer Institute, where Brachytherapy is now offered.
Brachytherapy is a form of internal radiation therapy used to treat various types of cancer, including but not limited to prostate, cervical, breast, and skin cancers. Unlike traditional external beam radiation, Brachytherapy involves placing a radioactive source directly inside or very close to the tumor or target, allowing for a highly targeted treatment that minimizes damage to surrounding healthy tissues.
“The Brachytherapy program at Riverside is amongst the first in the region,” said Dr. Issra Rashed, Radiation Oncologist with Riverside Cancer Institute. “We are excited to provide this new technology in combination with our exemplary expertise and existing state-of-theart technology to ensure our communities have access to comprehensive cancer care.”
HOW IT WORKS
The procedure is typically performed using tiny radioactive pellets or seeds, which are inserted into the tumor through needles, catheters, or applicators. Depending on the cancer type and treatment goals, these seeds are either temporary or permanent. In some cases, the radioactive source is inserted for a few minutes or hours (high-dose rate, or HDR, Brachytherapy), while in others, it is
left in place permanently (low-dose rate, or LDR, Brachytherapy), where the radiation naturally decays slowly over time.
MINIMIZING TISSUE DAMAGE
One of the key advantages of Brachytherapy is its precision. By delivering high doses of radiation directly to the cancer cells utilizing a radioactive source that rapidly decays with distance, that radiation is predominately limited to the immediate vicinity of the tumor or target. This is unlikely external beam radiation that can be more deeply penetrating and, therefore, can be associated with side effects to structures/organs further from the tumor/target.
This more localized treatment approach can mean less radiation exposure to more distant healthy tissues, limiting the complication rates and increasing the recovery times.
Brachytherapy is used for various cancer types, with prostate cancer being historically one of the most common. In prostate cancer treatment, small radioactive seeds are implanted into the prostate gland, providing an effective way to target the tumor without damaging the surrounding organs, such as the bladder or rectum.
Brachytherapy implants used to be permanent implants in which patients were radioactive for a short period of time and thus needed to limit exposure to individuals. In the modern era, these permanent implants have transitioned into an
even more precise temporary HDR brachytherapy implant that has been associated with an even lower toxicity profile and improved cancer control rates.
While external beam treatment has excellent cancer outcomes, the side effects of a prolonged month or so long course of treatment for an otherwise often indolent neoplasm is usually not the ideal treatment option for patients.
“Delivering the best possible care and helping patients achieve the best possible cancer treatment outcomes is my priority,” said Dr. Rashed. “That I now may be able to provide this care to more patients is something I am very excited about. I hope that we can become an even greater hub for oncologic care with the advent of Brachytherapy to our program.”
CASE DEPENDENT
While Brachytherapy is a powerful and effective treatment, it
may not be suitable for all patients or cancer types. Like any cancer treatment, the decision to use Brachytherapy is made with your doctor and is based on a thorough evaluation of the patient’s condition and the cancer’s stage.
For more information, call (815) 933-9660 or visit myrhc.net/cancer.
“The Brachytherapy program at Riverside is amongst the first in the region. We are excited to provide this new technology in combination with our exemplary expertise and existing state-of-the-art technology.”
“The program at Riverside is amongst the first in the region We are excited to this new in combination with our expertise and existing state-of-the-art technology ”
- Dr. Issra Rashed, Radiation Oncologist Riverside Cancer Institute
Housing hope
FBy CHRISTOPHER BREACH cbreach@shawmedia.com
ortitude Community Outreach has made great strides in the past year in being the voice, advocate and front-line provider for people experiencing homelessness in Kankakee County.
At times the obstacles the agency must overcome to foster and complete its mission are insurmountable on the face, but Fortitude perseveres. It provides services that are desperately needed in greater Kankakee.
“I’m not going to say the only way, but for many of the people we serve, the only way that they’re going to get in permanent housing is being surrounded by a team of people that connect them and assist them to get there,” said Dawn Broers, executive director of Fortitude.
The agency has made some remarkable headway in 2024, and the short- and longterm goals remain attainable for the 12-person staff. Fortitude is slowly but surely working to turn its new home at 150 S. Evergreen Ave. into a complete agency for people without housing.
For its achievements this past year, Fortitude Community Outreach is presented with the 2025 Progress Award for Innovator in Social Services.
“Our short-term goal is to have all of our services under one roof,” Broers said. “As long as we have existed, which has been since 2017, so eight years, we have been under other people’s roofs or in a converted coach bus.
“We’re very proud of our resiliency and our ability to problem solve and think out of the box and figure out creative ways to provide that needed shelter in Kankakee, but
we are very, very ready to be completely self-sufficient and stable.”
Fortitude took ownership of its location at 150 S. Evergreen Ave. in Kankakee in February 2024. It’s a two-story building with approximately 10,000 square feet. The structure most recently served as a church. Before that, it was a medical office building.
Fortitude has a three-phase plan for the building and has already completed Phase 1.
“Phase 1 was to get our business license so we could have our offices here,” Broers said. “So, yes, we achieved that.”
That has allowed Fortitude to move its offices into the second floor, where it can work on case management. That phase also included installing the required fire system, which was achieved through a $25,000
ARPA grant from the city of Kankakee.
Fortitude is now focusing on Phase 2 improvements to the building, which will require approximately $150,000 in funds it is currently trying to raise. That will allow evening services to be provided at the location, which are now done at The Salvation Army down the street.
Evening services include providing meals, showers and laundry services to people without housing.
“We’re over there at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 8:30 p.m.,” said Willeum Boykin, director of shelter services for Fortitude.
Also during that time, Boykin said staffers can work with the “guests” on case management.
“Our goal is to help them get into permanent housing, so we basically interview
each client and each guest,” he said. “We follow up with them each week on their progress to achieving permanent housing. Give them recommendations.” Finding affordable housing is a big issue in Kankakee County, Broers said.
Boykin said Fortitude is working with nine to 15 individuals daily during the evening services. Once those services are complete, people stay in the Night Fort RV bus purchased and put into service on Nov. 1, 2023.
Broers said the Night Fort isn’t a permanent solution. It can house up to 19 people.
“I would say it has been a successful stop-gap measure,” she said. “It is not a long-term sustainable program. It is high maintenance, and there’s high costs of fuel.”
Tiffany Blanchette photos
Dawn Broers (center), executive director of Fortitude Community Outreach, stands with staffers Sarah Tuttle (left) and Ben Broers, inside the shelter’s new location in East Kankakee. For its achievements this past year, Fortitude has received the 2025 Progress Award for Innovator in Social Services.
The sun shines above Fortitude Community Outreach’s new location in East Kankakee.
Focusing on Phase 2
Fortitude Community Outreach is preparing to start Phase 2 within a few weeks. That includes building bathroom and shower facilities on the first floor and a commercial kitchen.
“We’ll have one completely ADA-accessible shower, and then one tub and shower, which will be perfect for children,” Broers said. “And then a separate half-bath, so that there’s always a toilet available. They’re putting in laundry facilities.”
The Kankakee County Health Department requires a full commercial kitchen for any shelter that’s not connected to a church. That kitchen has added significant costs to the project.
“We have to have a full hood ventilation system, fire suppression, all the good stuff, which will end up being good in the end,” Broers said.
Fortitude is embarking on a fundraising campaign for hopefully a good portion of the costs, while the remainder will be borrowed from a bank. Fortitude has an agreement with Peoples Bank of Kankakee County for the loan.
Before Fortitude purchased the building, it had raised close to $400,000. It spent $235,000 for the building on Evergreen after paying $175,000 on the Night Fort bus. It has also incurred costs on the electrical and plumbing as well as the necessary permits for the new building. It now has approximately $85,000.
“We hope that we can take out as small of a loan as possible,” Broers said. “We have never had debt. ... We have to, and we’re starting the process. If God comes through and we don’t need it, then fantastic. At least the process will be started.”
Phase 3
What Fortitude envisions as a complete shelter for people without housing will be
part of Phase 3. It’s still months away, but Fortitude has the space on its second floor to offer housing.
There will be some hurdles to clear, not only financially, to get that done. It will need a special use permit from the city of Kankakee before the area on the second floor, which has been completely gutted, to turn into an area for housing.
“We’ll be beginning conversations about Phase 3 very soon,” Broers said. “... We’re hoping to have that permit by the end of the year.”
Fortitude is hoping once the renovation is complete, the area could house up to 25 people.
“It really depends on what the fire code
allows, capacity-wise,” Broers said. Fortitude will continue its quest to be self-sufficient and have a stable presence in Kankakee County.
“We can be dependent on and available anytime the hospital needs us,” Broers said. “The police need us, and we can only do that if we’re under one roof with more beds. If we’re under one roof, we have that flexibility to allow the police to bring somebody in the middle of the night, or take somebody who’s been treated at the hospital but gets released at 11 p.m. and have no place to stay.”
Long term, Fortitude wants to advocate for and improve the rights of the county’s homeless population.
“We’re involved in state and national advocacy organizations that are, as you can imagine, very ramped up right now, and so we are doing whatever we can to get involved with those advocacy activities,” she said.
Homeless by the numbers
Fortitude has an Excel spreadsheet with the name and information of every homeless person in the county.
“So through that [spreadsheet] and street outreach and different outreach efforts, we’re able to help people go from a state of homelessness, maybe living in their car, and some of the better success stories would include people who are now in leadership positions,“ Boykin said. ”[They’re] leading their own organization that helps the homeless.”
That involves a peer advisory group among other social service agencies, including the Supportive Housing Providers Association.
“People who were previously homeless are able to be trained as leaders in that arena,” Boykin said. “That’s pretty cool, and it is separate from Fortitude, but it’s something we’re involved with.”
In January, Fortitude did its count of homeless people in the county. It found that 25 people were spending the night in areas unfit for human habitation. An additional 28 individuals were sheltered by an agency other than Gift of God and The Salvation Army, which didn’t report their data.
Broers said some agencies have paused their programs, like hotel vouchers, because of the current and upcoming cuts to federal departments like HUD and the Department of Human Services.
“Everybody is terrified,” Broers said.
Broers said the above numbers of homeless people were just the ones they could find, but the actual amount is likely much more.
“There’s probably well over 100 living in their cars alone,” she said.
For more information, visit fortitudecommunityoutreach.org.
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Dawn Broers (right), executive director of Fortitude Community Outreach, stands with staffers Sarah Tuttle (left) and Ben Broers, outside their offices in the shelter’s new location in East Kankakee.
Tiffany Blanchette photos
A sign defines the word “fortitude” outside the offices for Fortitude Community Outreach at its new location in East Kankakee.
Diamonds are forever
Bradley Sports Complex takes shape, aiming to become regional
By LEE PROVOST lprovost@shawmedia.com
In a 126-acre setting in northern Bradley sits a bevy of construction activity.
On most days last fall, there were upward of 50, 60 or 75 tradesmen operating heavy machinery, moving earth, laying stormwater pipes and crafting the latest Field of Dreams.
These fields – 12 in all – are well on their way to becoming one of the boldest moves within Kankakee County development in an undetermined number of years.
And in the northeast corner of this development, immediately north of the Aspen Ridge Golf Course property and just east of the backside of the Kohl’s department store in the Bradley Commons Shopping Center, there were several workers, many of them on their hands and knees.
They were surrounded by a growing landscape of vivid green grass. In past days it was known as artificial turf, but it is better known these days as FieldTurf.
It was the making of the first baseball and softball diamond in the Bradley Sports Complex. While the green turf stuck out like the
proverbial sore thumb, it wouldn’t be that way for long. The process was underway to install some 1.1 million square feet FieldTurf.
Over the course of several weeks, dirt and rock surfaces gave way to a sea of green turf.
It takes a turf crew between 10 to 14 days to outfit a single field.
The sports complex, which will be renamed before its official opening slated for late May, is slowly but surely taking shape.
From corn to diamonds
The location, which only a year and a half ago was a field of corn, is now being reshaped into a field of diamonds. Better still, a field of diamonds in the rough.
Bradley purchased the agricultural site for $2.25 million in April 2023.
Crews are working to polish this site and make it into something this region has never witnessed.
The location by late spring should be ready to host youth baseball and softball teams – both local and Midwestern traveling teams – and turn this site into an economic engine that could host a few thousand spectators on a majority of late spring and summer weekends.
It is a bold step. It is a costly one as well.
The Bradley Village Board has committed up to $47 million to this project, a debt which is to be paid off for 20 years through the village business district taxes.
A vision of Mayor Mike Watson and some of his key allies, the complex is viewed as only the first of what might be a few bold steps to elevate Bradley’s standing in this region and throughout the Midwest.
It is being eyed as the first swing in mak-
ing Bradley a destination community.
Standing immediately next to the home plate area of this under construction ball field, Watson made it clear he has no doubts about what direction the village is moving. One piece of Bradley puzzle
While the project will cost upward of $10 million more than anticipated in the world of post-COVID-19 building material costs, Watson is well-versed in the motto: “If you build it, they will come.”
“This is just one piece of a much larger puzzle,” Watson said. “We didn’t want to cut back, cut corners. In order for us to compete in the field of youth sports, we must be unique and desirable.”
The first six diamonds are two larger fields more in line for use by older players, such as those of high school age. The centerfield fence for these would be a distance of 350 feet.
The four other diamonds for younger players would be the centerfield distance of 250 feet.
Watson and Rob Romo, village finance director, said there are certainly other facilities within the northern Illinois region to capture youth baseball and softball.
The Bradley site, they say, will offer a much more tranquil, much more relaxed location. The site will be far removed from the hustle and bustle of a complex set for New Lenox.
The Bradley complex also will be within walking distance of Bradley Commons for activity between games.
The site will be offered for local use, including area high schools, Kankakee Com-
destination
munity College and Olivet Nazarene University. The goal is to keep the site filled with the sounds of bats meeting balls. The location will not just be for baseball and softball. The site will allow for soccer, lacrosse and perhaps field hockey.
People and dollars
Local officials envision upward of 3,300 people attending travel ball weekends, with the obvious goal of filling rooms at local hotels and having these same people shop in area retail stores and visit restaurants
Funded through a 20-year bond issue, which is to be repaid through the village’s business district tax, the complex is projected to provide a $33-million annual economic impact.
“In order for us to compete, we must offer a unique and desirable setting,” Watson said. “We wanted a site that would offer a strong visual impact, not something so plain Jane. We’re trying to put some pizzazz in it.”
The complex will feature a dozen playing fields along with barn-like structures that will house offices, gathering spaces, and food and drink venues.
The site also will feature two 20-foot-deep ponds, totaling about 11 or 12 acres, to hold stormwater from the sports complex and the Bradley Commons site.
The ponds will be fishable, Romo said.
“We want this to be not just a place where people come to play or watch baseball. We want this to be a destination,” Watson said. “When Bradley is a destination, Kankakee County becomes a destination.”
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Tiffany Blanchette file photo
Bradley Mayor Mike Watson (right) and finance director Rob Romo stand on some of the first turf installed at the new Bradley sports complex project in October 2024. The 12-diamond complex is just one of the developments Bradley is investing in as growing cash reserves fuel developments.
