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Leyden Family Service to hold virtual fundraiser Friday, with Kris Bryant signed baseball, fur wrap as auction items

Pioneer Press Newspapers - 9/30/2020

Sep. 29--Leyden Family Service, a nonprofit mental health and substance recovery center in Franklin Park, will hold its annual fundraiser virtually on Friday.

The organization provides crisis support, therapy, psychiatric medication monitoring services, a food pantry, and recently added a hospital-to-outpatient transition program and crisis respite center.

The fundraiser will also raise money for the SHARE Program, part of the same organization, that provides inpatient substance abuse treatment in Hoffman Estates.

The virtual fundraiser will include a live-streamed video of Leyden Family Service directors speaking about the organization's work. A client's mother will speak about how the services helped her son.

"We also have a cover band that's singing, "Don't Stop Believing," which is the theme of what we do," Leyden Family Service CEO Bruce Sewick said. "In other words, we never stop believing."

The band, "The Town Squares," are alumni of Leyden High School District 212, Sewick said.

The villages of Franklin Park, Rosemont, Northlake and River Grove donated ahead of the fundraiser, as well as local companies who also donated items for the silent auction, according to Sewick.

Sloan Valve Company, a Franklin Park-based manufacturer, donated a baseball signed by Kris Bryant, in addition to financial support, Sewick said. York Furrier, a fur fashions store in Elmhurst, donated a wrap with fur trim. Instead of an in-person silent auction, a bid can be placed by leaving a Facebook comment on the posts with items on the Leyden Family Service Facebook page.

Despite rising need in the mental health community this year, revenue has decreased, Sewick said.

"It's our only fundraising event," Sewick said. "It's our annual fundraiser. This is our 18th year, so it's all we've got."

The fundraiser will be live-streamed Friday at 7 p.m. To receive a link to the live stream, email Sewick at bsewick@leydenfamilyservice.org. Donations can be made online at www.leydenfamilyservice.org/donate.

akim@chicagotribune.com

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