Ah, January: a time of new, fresh starts, looking ahead to warmer days and huddling around fireplaces to keep warm in near-arctic temperatures. For the social scene in Hinsdale, it's also a time to reset, recover from the holidays and look ahead at what's coming up in the spring.
This year, there's a new event to add to the calendar: "Dancing through the Decades," a gala in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Candor Health Education (previously known as the Robert Crown Center for Health Education). Now, I did not grow up here, but my husband did. He vividly remembers getting on a school bus and riding over to the Robert Crown Center (where the Hinsdale Humane Society is currently located) to learn about puberty. Similar to certain major world events, almost everyone remembers where they were when they learned about their changing bodies. It's universal.
What's less universal is the education that so many students badly need. That's where Candor Health steps in. Rebranded in 2020 to a name that reflects the honest, candid conversations that surround puberty, sex education, and substance abuse prevention, Candor educators visit more than 600 schools a year - mostly in the Chicagoland area, but extending virtually into schools as far away as New York - and they wish they could do more.
"We want kids to have access to health educators, no matter where they live, so that they're not on their own," development director Shelly Nicholson said. "We want them to learn it officially before they see it on the Internet."
Kids these days don't get on buses and ride over to a designated center. Instead, the educators go directly to them. Each educator trains in-person and learns the material in-depth to be able to give their presentations a bit of their own personality and to answer any and all questions students might have.
"The core questions have remained the same," Nicholson said.
But the new interactive lessons using a social-emotional learning approach are resulting in a 20 percent bump in knowledge over a traditional slide show presentation. And that's where the gala comes in.
Candor Health relies on donations to help bridge the gap between what schools can afford to pay for the programs and their costs. The proceeds from Dancing through the Decades will be put to good use across the board, but notably, they will be used to help improve access for students by translating the material into Spanish for some communities and updating materials to bring them into ADA compliance for students who have special needs.
The theme for the gala has an interesting backstory too. While brainstorming ideas, the committee thought that, as the Robert Crown Center first opened its doors in the 1970s, they could embrace a disco theme. As they started researching, they found that the women's auxiliary used the same title for one of their first events when the center was newly opened, a connection that has delighted longtime supporters who remember their days volunteering.
This year's event is Saturday, Feb. 1, at Oak Brook Manor and will feature silent and live auctions with items including a rose gold bracelet with black onyx and diamond flowers by Browning & Sons of Hinsdale, a multicolored diamond necklace by Marshall Pierce & Co., a trip for two to the U.S. Open finals in New York city and an all-inclusive South African safari for two. Cocktails start at 6 p.m. followed by dinner and dancing. Tickets are nearly sold out, but you might still be able to snag one ($175 for individual ticket or $1,200 for table) at http://www.candorhealthed.org/dancing-through-the-decades-2024. You can also donate directly to Candor Health through the website as well.
So, as I sit next to my fireplace and think about the many glittering events this year will hold, I raise my glass to our community, to the generosity that we continue to show. May this year be the best yet! Cheers!
- Allison Peters of Hinsdale is the paper's society columnist.
Readers can email her at
