Little Friends announces the new Dan Casey Activity Center

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A new activity center at Little Friends will be named in honor of a longtime supporter of the nonprofit who passed away earlier this year.

Dan Casey’s connection with Little Friends

Dan Casey spent nearly 14 years on the Little Friends Board of Directors, with four of those years as chairman. He frequently visited the adult program and would encourage others to do the same.

“Dan really loved our adult program, and he always would suggest to someone who wanted to learn more about Little Friends, go see our spectrum operation where we have our adult program,” said Little Friends CEO Mike Briggs. “We thought it would be a really cool thing to remember Dan by naming the activity center in the new building about him and for him.”

The Dan Casey Activity Center and what’s offered

The Dan Casey Activity Center is part of the new adult programming facility, which is being moved from Downers Grove. The new facility was recently purchased next to the organization’s current building on Diehl Road in Warrenville.

With the purchase, Little Friends will hold 42,000 square feet of space, with half of that needing to be redeveloped, including the activity center.

“We’ll be putting in an art studio, we’re putting in a new center for individuals to gather for being able to watch movies and socialize and like that,” said Briggs. “So there are a number of things that we’re we’re investing in to make the space work and hopefully getting started on that in May.”

Donations for the Activity Center continue to pour in

The announcement of the naming of the Dan Casey Activity Center came during the 46th annual Little Friends Benefit Auction, with all of the night’s proceeds going to the center.

And Briggs says donations continue to arrive.

“We right now, with donations that have come in, even after the auction event, we have about $463,000 that have been raised for the activity center,” said Briggs.

That may be in part a tribute to people’s fondness of Casey, who Briggs says was always looking out for others, whether it was someone at Little Friends, a family member, a stranger, or a coworker. He recalled a personal kindness Casey paid him when he took over as CEO.

“And so for the first year of me being in this job, he extended his stay in the job so that we could have a smooth transition and be able to make that happen. Dan was wonderful to work with and you know, he was there when you needed him.”

Briggs says that Little Friends aims to have the Dan Casey Activity Center open by the end of the year.

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