News
Volunteers from Lowes Paint a Group Home
Volunteers from the Machesney park Lowe's store painted the outside of one of Milestone's adult group homes. They also hung new blinds in the living and dining room.
Volunteers from Ticomix Paint Playground Equipment
Volunteer's from Tricomix spent an evening repainting the playground equipment at RocVale Children's Home. The group said they select a couple of non profit organization in the Rockford area each year to help.
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Special Olympics Torch Run
Each year, for the past 25 years, members of the Law Enforcement community run the Special Olympics torch from the Wisconsin-Illinois Border to Normal Illinois for the state 
competition.
This year Eva, an athlete from RocVale joined the members of the Loves Park Police Department for part of the run.
Making Christmas special for 20 years
The 20th Annual Harmony Hall Christmas Party for the individuals at Milestone, sponsored by The Rockford Association of Clubs & the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association was held on December 12th.
Each year the group provides lunch, gifts, music and plenty of fun for the individuals from Milestone’s Elmwood Heights and Elmwood East facilities.
This year Milestone’s CEO, Shawn Way, made a special presentation to the sponsors to mark the 20 year anniversary, and to say thank you for the ongoing support of the groups.
Regifting Day was a success!
With the help of many of our employees, bingo customers and friends of Milestone, we collected over 500 new or like new items for our re-gifting days. On November 11th and 18th, our individuals were able to shop for and purchase these items for a maximum of $2.00 each for every person on their list. The individuals served by Milestone, Inc. arrived through-out the day and shopped until WE dropped! We provided gift wrapping services and every one went home proud of what they purchased for their family members and friends. Since many of our individuals are on limited budgets and/or have difficulty getting out in the community, especially in inclement weather, this was a perfect solution to put all of those unused items to good use! Our goal in having this event so early was to allow our children to participate on a day when there was no school. One of our shoppers stated, “My family is going to wonder where I got all of this money to buy these presents”! Many shoppers also enjoyed a few things for themselves while another has already given one of his gifts away!
After our individuals completed their shopping needs, our employees were then able to purchase any remaining items to help lighten their loads this Holiday season.
We would like to acknowledge and thank everyone who donated items to this sale. All proceeds were donated to the Rock River Food Pantry and the Harkins Community Memorial Fund. So your gift just kept on giving!
Milestone awarded grant from HUD
Milestone was one of 2 agencies in Illinois and 62 nationally ,to receive funding from HUD for a supportive living project for people with disabilities. The $1,200,000 will be used to build a second independent living apartment building in Loves Park, similar to the building on South Mulford.
Milestone joins in the fight against breast cancer
Individuals and staff from Milestone raised over $700, the largest amount ever for the Making strides against Breast Cancer Walk sponsored by the American cancer society. The walkers, led by Team Captain Lenny, completed the course in record time.
Milestone Dental Clinic staff receives additional training
The staff of Milestone Dental Clinic recently attended sedation training , consisting of 20 hours of didactic work and hands on clinical demonstration of airway management in sedated patients. This training will meet the new Illinois education requirement for staff who work in dental offices treating sedated patients. A grant from the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation provided the funding for the training and provided the funds needed for2 patient monitors with capnography capability for monitoring vitals on sedated patients. This purchase was also made to ensure meeting monitoring compliance as required in the new Illinois Sedation Laws
Helping the Alzheimer's Association
Individuals and staff organized a team for the Rockford Alzheimer’s association Memory Walk at Rock Valley College. Team Captains Mario and Rachel got the word out and collected donations which were handed in at the event.
Former Dental Director, Dr. Jason Grinter Wins Golden Toothbrush Award
This prestigious award was presented by the Erie Family Health Center during their second annual Golden Toothbrush Awards Luncheon. The luncheon also sheds light on the challenges Erie's patients and all underserved dental patients in our area face in accessing dental care and recognizing oral health as an integral part of a person's overall health.
The three finalists for the 2010 Golden Toothbrush Award were: Reshma Dhake, DDS, Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation and Jason Grinter, DDS. Watch the award video here.
Jason Grinter, DDS has been helping to improve access to dental care for unserved and underserved populations in Illinois for over five years. He has worked at Milestone Dental Clinic and Illinois Masonic Hospital, where he completed his residency. Dr. Grinter expanded the Milestone program to the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile to treat children with special needs and children without dental access in five counties. Dr. Grinter works tirelessly throughout the State and in the Greater Chicago area to advocate for improvements in access to care for all underserved individuals. He works directly with the Illinois Department of Public Aid and DentaQuest in advocating for changes to current state dental programs. He was a DentaQuest Dental Champion from March 2007 to December 2009 and in 2010 was promoted to Lead Dental Champion. He serves on the DentaQuest/HFS Illinois Peer Review Committee, as Officer on the Board of the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities and as a Board member of the Special Care Dentistry Association. He was directly involved in creating and implementing the Healthy Kids, Healthy Smiles program, which provides access to restorative care for children identified with decay. Dr. Grinter says he will not rest until every special needs patient in Illinois has access to the dental care they deserve.
$1850 Raised for Kids Around the World
When the individuals served by Milestone heard about the earthquake in Haiti, they wanted to know what they could do to help. A Milestone Board member shared information about the Kids against Hunger program sponsored by Kids Around the World, and it became a perfect fit. A group from Milestone Industries packed meals to be shipped to Haiti at the Kids Around the World warehouse, and others helped pack meals during the day long Sharefest event.
But they wanted to do more to help. So, several fund raising events were organized including bake sales at all main Milestone offices, and a special raffle. Their efforts raised $1850 for Kids Around the World, and their efforts.
The individuals at Milestone Industries plan to continue to volunteer for Kids Around the World and will be packaging more meals for the group in the future. Bill Grahn Senior Vice President of Adult Residential and Vocational Services says volunteering helps the individuals served by Milestone to feel like they are part of the community, and he adds it is a way for Milestone to give back to a community that has supported the organization.
