Exciting news here at Megan Butz Legacy of Hope! Our team has awarded seven new grants totaling $170,000 to organizations throughout the Chicagoland area that address mental health for our youth, with a specific focus on suicide prevention or recovery. Our total grants and holiday assistance since our formation in June 2023 tops $300,000, something we could not fathom at our launch.
Not-for-profit organizations receiving 2025 grants from Meg’s Legacy grant team include:
- Elyssa’s Mission (Northbrook) – $20,000 to provide critical school-based suicide prevention education and resources to help prevent teen suicide and connect at-risk youth to needed mental health support.
- Josselyn Center (Grayslake) – $25,000 to their Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), which utilizes trauma-informed and evidence-based treatments for children and teens, helping them address critical mental health issues and improve their daily functioning.
- Juvenile Protective Association (Chicago) – $30,000 for support of their in-school programs assisting children in 14 schools throughout the 2025 school year. Funding helps provide at least one dedicated therapist for in-school individual and small-group student therapy.
- Partners for Our Communities (Palatine) – $25,000 for the “Skyward Bound” counseling program in 2025. Skyward Bound provides clinical therapy for under-resourced teens in their first language and without waiting for months in the Northwest suburbs.
- Willow House (Bannockburn) – $15,000 for youth and family bereavement support groups, which are offered in four categories: peer support, survivors of suicide (SOS), expressive arts, and on-site 8-week school support groups.
- Youth and Family Counseling (Libertyville) – $30,000 to help YFC provide mental health care to families in Lake County who otherwise face barriers to accessing the help they need.
Meg’s Legacy also provided $25,000 to Megan Butz’s alma mater, Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein, Ill., to fund their mental health curriculum expansion. Via Meg’s Legacy, a guest speaker will deliver evidence-based programming on mental wellness to the entire school body in Fall 2025. Post presentation, all staff and student leaders will receive suicide prevention training. The objective is to build a foundation for ongoing mental healthiness and programming to help all 1,200 students.
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among youth aged 10 to 14 in Illinois and the third-leading cause of death for young people aged 10 to 24, according to the National Institutes of Health.
