ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – Remedies Renewing Lives gets golfers together Thursday for its 18th annual golf fundraiser at Aldeen Golf Club in Rockford.
Gary Halbach is the President Remedies Renewing Lives. He says the event raises awareness about domestic violence and addiction and looks to remove the stigma for those affected.
“Domestic violence, human trafficking, substance abuse, it affects everybody in society. Everybody in Winnebago and Boone Counties, which is our primary areas that we serve,” Halbach said. “And by doing events like this, it also takes away some of the stigma of reaching out for services when somebody needs help.”
“You’re going to be hard-pressed to find any individual in our community that is not touched by domestic violence,” said Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara, who attended the event.
McNamara adds that 70% of all of Rockford youth committing violent crimes grew up in a household where there was physical or sexual violence taking place.
“It’s impacting our entire city from a violent crime standpoint,” McNamara said. “Our young people aren’t able to focus on their studies; they’re worried about their safety. You look at coworkers of ours who may be missing work, not performing at the level that we all know they can, because they’re struggling with issues taking place at home. If you look at our health systems, they’re being impacted because they’re having more and more people coming there due to the violence in the homes. It is impacting every single corner of our city.”
McNamara also said domestic violence represents 50% of violent crime in Rockford.
“It says a lot about our city’s values, that we have organizations like Remedies, who are helping fight that stigma and also serve our survivors,” McNamara said.
Remedies offers outpatient treatment services for substance abuse and gambling addiction as well as medication assisted treatment. It also operates a 24/7 domestic violence shelter and provides services for domestic violence survivors such as counseling, advocacy, support groups and assistance with Orders of Protection. Remedies also launched a human trafficking program, I-RISE, in 2024.
Remedies Treatment Center Outpatient Addiction and Domestic Violence Services is located at 215 Easton Parkway.
More information on Remedies Renewing Lives can be found on their website.
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