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Mooseheart, the famed Moose "Child City," is a home and school owned and maintained by the Loyal Order of Moose for the children of Moose member families in need and as of 1994, for all qualifying children in need.
(Mooseheart Campus - 70k)
Mooseheart is a complete community for young people, situated on 1,200 acres of prime Illinois farmland in the Fox River Valley, about 38 miles west of Chicago. Mooseheart has its own homes, schools, cathedral, farm, health center, stores, post office and utilities.
Families whose young people come to Mooseheart are generally charged nothing, but the "entrance fee" is nonetheless extremely high: many youngsters at the Child City reside at Mooseheart because they have lost one or both of their parents. In many other cases, their parents have separated or divorced, or there has been severe financial need, or other problems causing family instability. Over 10,000 children have resided at Mooseheart for such reasons since it was founded in 1913.
In assuming the obligation of raising these children, the Moose fraternity makes every effort to provide them with a stable, secure environment, in houses as well-appointed and comfortable as the best single-family homes, along with the best academic education and vocational training possible. Awaiting every eligible Mooseheart high school graduate with a 3.0 (4.0=A) or better grade average is an annually renewable full tuition-room-and-board scholarship, with value equivalent to state-university expenses, to any North American college or university to which he or she can be academically accepted.
In addition to the academic program, each student is required to study a vocation. The opportunity to learn one or more of several vocational skills, including computer education, electronics, sheet metal, graphic arts, food services, garment making, cosmetology, hairstyling and office procedures and practices is offered to its elder students.
Every student has an opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument by being a member of the concert band, and to develop his or her singing voice by performing in one of the choirs.
Much opportunity is offered to enjoy sports. Mooseheart varsity teams, known as the "Red Ramblers", compete interscholastically in football, volleyball, basketball, bowling, baseball, and track and field. Also, an extensive intramural sports and recreation program is conducted. Year round recreational and nature enjoyment are offered at Mooseheart's rolling, wooded 100-acre Camp Ross facility, an hour's drive west of the campus.
In addition to all of these extra curricular programs, an extensive array of off-campus trips expose Mooseheart students to first rate museums, plays, concerts, sporting events and other cultural attractions throughout the greater- Chicago area.
At Mooseheart, every child is trained in the faith which prevailed in the child’s former home. Two resident chaplains, one Catholic and one Protestant, are headquartered in Mooseheart's magnificent multi-denominational cathedral known simply as the House of God. They minister to the spiritual needs of the children, while students of the Jewish faith continue their religious training in a nearby Aurora synagogue.
The Mooseheart Department of Counseling Services was founded in 1930 primarily to serve the needs of Mooseheart children, but also to make contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the field of child care and training. Its purposes today are to give the Mooseheart administration as complete a knowledge as possible of each individual child and his or her personality and needs, to provide appropriate counseling as needed, to follow the life and development of each child during his stay at Mooseheart, and to furnish the administration with special and general surveys for the evaluation of teaching and training procedures.
With the completion of a long term onging capital improvement program, Mooseheart will have the capacity to train and educate nearly 500 young people at any one time to take their places in society as useful and productive citizens. And Mooseheart with its spacious campus, 100 buildings, and tree-lined streets stands ready to serve dependent children as a prime example of the Family Fraternity in action.
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