The Lake County community came together to support Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center’s 11^th Annual Casino Night Fundraiser on October 6^th at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park.  Guests joined ZCenter for dinner, drinks, gambling, live/silent auctions and more as they worked to shorten an ever-growing waiting list of families who need their services.

Thanks to the generosity of the events amazing underwriters, Jon Mills and Morris Belzberg, the evening was a tremendous success, raising a net income of over $157,000.  Perhaps more importantly, many community members’ and friends of ZCenter had an opportunity to see and experience the life changing work that takes place at the center every day. 

An incredible speaker shared his family’s story of survival after his daughter was attacked and poignantly noted that, “healing begins immediately after a trauma”.  ZCenter works to be there for survivors and their loved ones from the moment they find themselves in the hospital, during any court proceedings and throughout their entire journey of healing.

Because of our wonderful community members, ZCenter can support more survivors and their families.  Additionally, “with the help of an anonymous foundation which agreed to match new and increased donations, we made an additional $28,000 at this year’s Casino Night event!” says Director of Stewardship & Development, Stephanie Garrity.  “It was truly amazing to watch the energy around the night as a whole, but to know that our amazing supporters had the opportunity to make their generosity count twice was really remarkable!”

The funds generated from the event will directly support ZCenter’s free counseling services, community education programs, and advocacy services.  Without the support garnered through events and donations, they could not continue to offer these services to the many clients who come to their center to heal from sexual abuse and assault.