Bethany for Children & Families, a non-profit child welfare, mental health, community education, and social services agency, is celebrating 125 years of serving the Quad Cities region.
With the mission “keeping children safe, strengthening families, and building healthy communities,” the agency serves more than 15,000 individuals, children and families per year in Iowa and Illinois.
The agency is celebrating its milestone anniversary by hosting a community picnic from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, July 25, in the west parking lot of Bethany’s new headquarters at 1701 River Drive, Moline. The free picnic is open to the public and includes food, cotton candy, a dunk tank, games, a raffle, giveaways, and other family-friendly activities. The party will continue as Bethany sponsors the Crooked Cactus Band from 7-9 p.m. during the adjacent Bass Street Landing Summer Concert Series.
Bethany traces its roots back to the late 1800s, when Gottlieb and Annie Germann, of Rock Island, began caring for the baby boy that Mr. Germann found near his shop on Arsenal Island.
The couple soon realized that there were many other children in the area whose parents could not or would not care for them. By the next year, a small group had formed, secured a house for an orphanage, and incorporated as the Union Mission. The name was changed to Bethany Protective Association, and then to Bethany Home. By the time it moved from Rock Island to Moline in 1941, it was home to 170 children.
During the Great Depression, Bethany implemented foster care into its program, and survived the difficult era due to the generosity of the community. Since closing its residential facility in the 1990s and changing its name to Bethany for Children & Families, the agency has not only maintained its role of offering foster care and adoption services to the region, but also has expanded to 40 programs and services with locations in Moline, Carbon Cliff and Kewanee, Illinois, and Davenport, Maquoketa and Clinton, Iowa.
For more information, visit bethany-qc.org or contact Christina McNamara-Schmidt at (309) 735-6642 or [email protected].
