History of the Champaign County Operation Snowball
The following historical narrative of the Champaign County Operation Snowball is unfinished and requiring more detail. If an inaccuracy is seen, please send an explanation to CCOS so that this can be made more accurate.Sincerely and Respectfully,
Robert Silverman, Executive Director, August 1, 2005.
In the beginning was the Illinois Teenage Institute on Substance Abuse (ITI). ITI is a week-long, summer leadership training program for high school teens. In 1977, a group of teens from Rockford attended ITI and thought it was great, so they returned home and started a similar group designed to meet throughout the school year. The Rockford teens named their new program Operation Snowball, hoping that it would roll to other communities. Today, there are over 130 chapters.
In 1979, Urbana resident Teddy Dawson was deeply involved in mental health issues on a local and state level. She attended a meeting in Rockford and heard the teens talking about their new program. The ever-resourceful Teddy returned to Champaign-Urbana, located two students in the University of Illinois MSW program, Steve Higgins and Patty Pearson, and together the three of them held the first Operation Snowball meeting in Champaign County.
These first meetings were held in the upstairs offices in the 100 block of north Neil St., Champaign. In the fledging years, the CCOS teens stomped up the stairs to participate in this experiential, teen helping teen program. The first weekend Retreat occurred in January 1981 and was held at the Robert Allerton House at Allerton Park. Since then, CCOS has not been allowed back in the Allerton House and all Retreats except one have been held across the street, at the 4-H Memorial Camp. The one exception was a Retreat held at Camp Drake, due to the 4-H Camp being booked.
After a few years, the weekly Tuesday Night meeting moved a few blocks away, to the main floor of the Inman Hotel where it remained until 1988, when the building changed to the senior housing it is today. In 1988, CCOS rented an office from the McKinley Foundation, 809 S. Fifth, Champaign, and has been holding the Tuesday Night meeting there since. While only renting one office, and not affiliated with the McKinley Church and Foundation, the Foundation generously allows CCOS the use of a large group room.
There have been many CCOS staff members since those first years. The first two Administrative Coordinators were Teddy Dawson, 1979-1988, and Nan Kraatz, 1988-2003. The Program Coordinators led Tuesday Nights, Retreats and Teen Staff Training. For a number of years, coordinators received a small, monthly stipend. And there were many volunteers. Like many non-profit organizations, CCOS has relied heavily upon the generosity of volunteers and the incredible number of hours freely given. Some staff stayed for a semester; some stayed for one, two, or three years; some stayed for ten, fifteen, and over twenty years. All are to be applauded.
CCOS LINEAGE
(NOTE: This is a list of staff who volunteered beyond class credit. It is incomplete, especially the early years. Please send the names of anybody missing and apologies to anybody inadvertantly left off.)
Name |
Year Started |
Profession while at CCOS |
| Teddy Dawson | 1979 |
concerned community member |
| Steve Higgins | 1979 |
social worker |
| Patty Pearson | 1979 |
social worker |
| Karie Wolfson | 1979 |
social worker |
| Marge Blunier | 1980 |
teacher |
| Robert Silverman | 1980 |
counselor |
| Maureen Murphy | 1981 |
social worker |
| Marty Jencius | 1981 |
counselor |
| Donna Wolf | 1982 |
social worker |
| Judy Bergland | 1982 |
social worker |
| Fred Schrumf | 1984 |
social worker |
| Ruth Myers | 1984 |
teacher |
| Paul Budin | 1988 |
social worker |
| Jo Pauly | 1988 |
social worker |
| Maggie Whicker | 1988 |
was teen staff; social worker |
| Karen Hellyer | 1988 |
art teacher, musician |
Laura Kelly |
1988 |
social worker |
| Jim Edfors | 1988 |
musician |
| Nan Kraatz | 1988 |
teacher |
| Heidi Reible | 1989 |
social worker |
| Joe Omo-Osagi | 1990 |
counselor |
| Shana Scherer | 1994 |
social worker |
| Melissa Cronin | 1995 |
counselor |
| Brandon Neely | 1995 |
carpenter |
| Heather Tanner | 1996 |
teacher |
| Dan Mohr | 2000 |
computer expert |
| Chris Ochs | 2000 |
counselor |
| Steve Morrison | 2002 |
carpenter |
| Bridget Meis | 2002 |
was teen staff; teacher |
| Sean Seepersad | 2003 |
Ph.D. student: designed CCOS Evaluation |
| Brie Bertges | 2003 |
counselor |
| Rob Schooley | 2003 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Sue Kazmierczak | 2003 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Melissa Baumgart | 2004 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Caleb Curtis | 2004 |
Old teen staff; education |
| Sarah Curtiss | 2004 |
Old teen staff; psychology |
| Eileen Unander | 2005 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Sarah Hansman | 2005 |
prevention worker |
| Mijung Yoon | 2005 |
UIUC Ph.D. student: Educational Psychology |
| Amy Uscilla | 2005 |
MSW program |
| Kim Simpson | 2005 |
UIUC Nursing program supervisor |
| Jody Craft | 2006 |
English and Psychology |
| Beth German | 2006 |
data entry and cook |
| Amanda Berenguel | 2006 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Angelica Lara | 2006 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Abby Viohl | 2006 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Jacob Cafaro | 2006 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Deepak Santhiraj | 2006 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Rachel Kravitz | 2007 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Arturo Martinez | 2007 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Jessica Mwinzi | 2007 |
UIUC MSW program |
| Emily Dray | 2007 |
UIUC Nursing program |
| Stephanie Pflum | 2007 |
UIUC Nursing program |
ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY
In 1982, CCOS formed its own Board of Directors and became a 501(c)3, non-profit corporation in the State of Illinois. From the beginning, it was important for CCOS to remain free-standing and not become part of another organization or school setting, as almost all of the Illinois Snowball chapters had done.
From 1979-2003, CCOS operated using a "group process" organizational model. Over time, as the rules for non-profits changed, and as the small grants which had allowed CCOS to meet its operating expenses and offer minimal stipends were lost, CCOS found itself unable to pay its bills. Between 2001-2003 CCOS lost nearly 100% of its funding and the organizational model became unsustainable. In June 2003, the Board of Directors unanimously decided to change from the "group process" organizational model to an "Executive Director" model. This change had one goal in mind: for CCOS to remain available to the high school teens of Champaign County for the next 26 years.
In 2003, an Executive Director was hired. The bylaws were updated, financial accounting was updated so there could be transparent and up-to-date financial records, and CCOS developed and implemented an outcome-based evaluation. We also developed curriculum guidelines and an organizational operations manual. And most of all, we rebuilt our fund-raising capabilities. If you are interested in helping CCOS grow, please make a tax-deductible donation.
CCOS CAN BE EXPLAINED
For over two decades, CCOS staff told the community, "CCOS can't be explained. You just have to experience it." This is not true anymore. And in today's non-profit climate, if a program cannot explain how it works with teens, then it will not receive support. Today, CCOS is more than capable of explaining exactly what it does, and why, and what the results are. The future looks good.
