Samaritan Interfaith Counseling Center is celebrating several anniversaries in a big way.
The group held their 10th annual ‘Silent Samaritans’ breakfast at Hotel Arista. With hundreds in attendance, the event raises funds for women and children who are seeking counseling services through Samaritan Interfaith, but cannot afford part or all of their care.
“Samaritan Interfaith has provided approximately $5 million in fee subsidies over the last ten years to people who would not otherwise be able to afford counseling. This breakfast event has contributed greatly to that number,” said Vice Chair on the Samaritan Interfaith Board, Nina Menis.
And in celebration of their 45th year of serving the community, they announced at the breakfast that Samaritan Interfaith has been rebranded and renamed to now be SamaraCare.
“‘Samara’ is a word for winged seed, seeds that can blow in the wind and flourish and represents our hope to help the people we work with to flourish with the gifts that God’s given them. And ‘samara’ in Hebrew means guarded by God, which is a nod to our core faith values. And ‘care’ is who we are,” said President and CEO of SamaraCare, Rev. Dr. Scott Mitchell.
Their new tag line is ‘choose stronger,’ aiming to reduce the stigma surrounding seeking help for mental health issues.
Last year alone they provided over 14,000 hours of counseling services to over 1,500 individuals.
Naperville News 17’s Evan Summers reports.
