Helping the "Helper"

By James Middleton
The Boone County Journal
Of all the people in Belvidere and Boone County that claim every year they want to help little children in need, the man that delivers every year is Reverend Don Norek and his volunteers at His Glory Christian Outreach Mission in downtown Belvidere. In addition to the work of Reverend Norek and his group some local churches gather used coats and provide various other types of assistance to those in need, but if someone has the choice of spending the night in an alley or finding help, His Glory Christian Outreach Mission Center and Reverend Norek in downtown Belvidere is where people go.
People that need help for years have known of the Outreach Center and Reverend Don. He said in a recent meeting, “I’m getting calls this year from people and from places I have never gotten before.” He added, “Some of those that call are men and they sound as if they are embarrassed but they are calling because they need the help. They lost their jobs, their family is hungry and they can’t keep it together.”
Reverend Don said that this year is different from previous years serving people in the community. For more than 16 years the Outreach Center has held their annual Christmas event in downtown Belvidere but, for the Reverend and those that need the help, this, too, is a very different year.
This year the annual Christmas celebration begins at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, December 23 and runs until 8:30 p.m. People from all over the city and the county will be there and children in-need will be asked to fill out a form and have that ready when they stand in line to get their gift from Santa Claus. Santa as always, will make an early visit to downtown Belvidere because Reverend Norek heads up the effort.
Toys for the needy children in the area are divided by age and by gender. For example, the workers at the Outreach Center have dedicated the back portion of their building to setting aside collection areas for those gifts. One reason this year is so different from previous years is because the help from the community has not met the expanded need nor has it met the expectation.
Reverend Don said, “This year, we really need a lot of help. For example, toys for the needy kids from a few months old to two years old, we’re only down about 10 percent. But, it gets worse the older we go. For boys aged six to nine, we’re down on those gifts by about 40 percent. For the girls in the same age bracket, we’re down over 30 percent. But here’s the real deal, for girls 10 years and older, we’re down over 40 percent but for boys in the same age group, we’re down over 70 percent. That means seven out of 10 of those kids won’t get anything unless we get help.”
In the back area of the center, workers have constructed spaces where toys and gifts are collected according to the age and gender of the recipient. Cheri Durkee, the resource manager for the Outreach Center said, “We should have gifts stacked to where those boards are (about six feet off the floor). As you can see, we’re way down from where we need to be,” with some of the areas less than a third filled.
Reverend Don said the situation the Outreach Center is experiencing is easy to understand with a 13 percent unemployment rate in Belvidere and Boone County. “How could we expect anything different,” Reverend Don asked and added, “It’s up to me and to God to get the toys.”
But the Reverend has another problem besides diminished donations and gifts to the Outreach Center because he needs to find a few animals. Every year Reverend Don has a live Nativity Scene located in front of the Center. In that grouping he needs a couple of sheep and a cow but he also needs of a few riding horses to help with crowd control.
“We’re expecting that we could have maybe 3,000 kids this year, maybe 3,500 or more,” said Reverend Don. On Monday afternoon he had a meeting with Aldermen Ray Pendzinski (Ward 4) and Alderman Michael Chamberlain (Ward 3) from the Belvidere City Council and Belvidere Police Chief Jan Noble to make the final preparations for the event. Chief Noble was there to discuss routes and streets needed for the event on December 23 and to also discuss crowd control with the Reverend. Aldermen Pendzinski and Chamberlain were there because they are volunteering to help next Wednesday.
Reverend Don would appreciate anyone who could provide a couple of sheep and a cow for the live Nativity on Wednesday, December 23 to call the center at 815-547-8287. Scripture tells that those animals were present on the first Christmas.
Street parking is available throughout downtown Belvidere and also in the Sullivan’s Foods parking lot.
But before the event can even begin, Reverend Don and His Glory Christian Outreach Center need the help of the community. With only a few days left before December 23 at 6:30 p.m. when the Belvidere downtown Christmas event begins, there are a lot of toys that need to be obtained or there will be a lot of forgotten children this year.
Donations in the form of cash, check or money orders can be delivered up through the morning of December 23 to His Glory Christian Outreach Center at 209 South State Street in downtown Belvidere. Those that want to deliver toys can do so as well. But those that do want to deliver toys should contact the center at 815-547-8287 and speak to Reverend Don or to Ms. Durkee to find out where they have the greatest need.
If someone wants to donate cash or a check they can do so and specify what age and gender they want to help.
But in addition to toys, there are also benefactors in the community that donate food. Reverend Don said, “We have a local man, an anonymous donor, who is very generous every year. This year we’ll have 20 Christmas dinners that we will give out to the most-deserving families.” He said the dinners have all the trimmings with roast turkey and dressing, potatoes, yams, vegetables and pie for 20 families.
But the same donor has also provided enough food for those staying at the Belvidere House in downtown Belvidere to also have a joyous Christmas dinner, compliments of the anonymous donor and the Outreach Center. “We always go up there and pass out dinners to those at the Belvidere House, they need some good food and cheer on Christmas Day,” Reverend Don added. For Reverend Don and Cheri and his other volunteers, Christmas Day is their busiest work day of the year.
Reverend Don held up a handful of forms that had already been filled out by children and families that needed help to make this Christmas merry. “Look at all of these, what am I going to do?” he asked as he turned away.
Residents of Belvidere will help their families have a merry and joyous Christmas but in this week leading to Wednesday, December 23, residents of Belvidere and Boone County can do a lot more for those that need so much help. Many have fallen into dire straits due to the loss of a job or suffering a disabling injury or something else that occurred that was unexpected. This year residents can truly help by helping Reverend Don and the Outreach Center to continue the work they have sustained for 16 years straight to help make the Christmas of those in need a lot happier.
Cash, check and money order donations for toys will be accepted at His Glory Christian Outreach Center on December 23 until 5 p.m. Later that day, from 6 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., everyone in town and the county is invited to celebrate Christmas a couple days early in downtown Belvidere.
Click here for a list of toy barrel locations in Boone County.

Reverend Don Norek of His Glory Mission in Belvidere, Ill. shows how high a pile of donated toys was in previous years of his annual toy drive on Monday, December 14, 2009. Donations to the toy drive this year are approximately 35% lower than they were last year at this time and there is a sharp increase in the number of families who are requesting toys.
Photo by Curtis Clegg