COVID-19 Resources
Self-Care and Tips for Talking With Children and Teens about Mental Health
UNICEF provides tips and resources to help you support your child’s and your own mental health. Resources include a mental health quiz, information on common conditions, videos, and conversation starters to help you talk to your kids. The information is available in several languages.
UNICEF resources also include:
- Guides to big conversations
- Self-care for parents
- How to reduce stress
- Mental health tips for infants to pre-teens
A self-care assessment tool from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Share Our Spare collects new and gently-used items for children ages 0-5 and donates them to low-income families living in Metropolitan Chicago. Items are not available directly: instead, Share our Spare reaches families in need by partnering with local social services organizations that provide their clients with needed social services such as parenting classes, early childhood education, housing referrals, job readiness training, and behavioral health services.
Share Our Spare partners with social service agencies representing 120 zip codes in the following counties: Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, McLean, Will and Winnebago.
SNAP Online Purchasing Program
The Illinois Department of Human Services is offering online purchasing for more than 1.8 million Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) customers across a million households.
Online SNAP will give families easier access to food during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond. Busy parents will no longer have to stress about how they can pick their kids up from school and make it to the grocery store before dinner. And those working multiple jobs or the late shift won’t have to rush to make it before the store closes. All families will have another option to independently secure the food they need.
Special Olympics School of Strength
Special Olympics has created a fitness video series in partnership with WWE for Special Olympics athletes, led by Special Olympics athletes. The fitness campaign targets athletes in their teens and late 20s and features four workout videos with varying levels of difficulty in flexibility, strength, balance and endurance exercises encouraging athletes to commit to a lifetime of fitness habits.
Springfield Mass Transit District and Access Sangamon
The Springfield Mass Transit District provides free or reduced fare programs for eligible residents with disabilities and seniors. You must meet eligibility requirements and enroll to use the Benefit Access, Access Sangamon or Reduced Fare ID programs. For the latest information, visit www.smtd.org/news.
- Benefit Access allows program members to ride any fixed-route bus free of charge. If you do not qualify for Benefit Access, you may still be eligible for a reduced fare ID. Apply for the Benefit Access program online on the Illinois Department on Aging’s website.
- The Reduced Fare ID allows people with disabilities and seniors to ride any fixed-route bus for just under half the price of a normal fare.
- Access Sangamon provides transportation for persons with disabilities who are unable to use the SMTD fixed-route bus service. Individuals with disabilities must apply to become eligible to use the service.
Springfield Office of Community Relations Resources
The Springfield Office of Community Relations provides information on where to find help with homelessness, rental and utility assistance, micro-pantries and more.
You can also contact the Springfield Office of Community Relations at (217) 789.2270 or Community.Relations@springfield.il.us
Springfield-Area Micropantries
The micropantries in Springfield and its surrounding communities in Sangamon County operate independently and allow people to take what they need and leave what they can.
The City of Springfield provides a a list of micropantries in Springfield and the surrounding area.
St. James Lutheran Church Food Pantry in Bettendorf, IA
The St. James Lutheran Church Food Pantry provides emergency food to families in need who reside in the food pantry service zone. Visitors are provided with a pre-packed box of food items, along with milk, eggs, and protein. Visitors are encouraged to schedule visits every 30 days, but can return each week for bread and fresh vegetables that may be available.
St. James Lutheran Church Food Pantry is at 1705 Oak Street. The pantry is open on:
- Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m.
- Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m.
For questions, please call (563) 355-4161.
St. Mary’s Food Pantry in Moline
St. Mary’s Food Pantry provides food to anyone living below 12th Avenue in Moline and between 53rd Street in Moline and 39th Street in Rock Island. Active members of St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, Christ the King and St. Ann’s in Moline can also pick up food regardless of their address. Residents in the service area can pick up food once a month by providing a photo ID (such as a driver’s license) or a piece of mail with a current address.
St. Mary’s Food Pantry is at 412 10th St., in Moline. It is open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
For questions, please call (309) 764-1562.