FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2024 | 6:00PM   

CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER  | Preston Bradley Hall | 78 E. Washington St, Chicago, IL

Tickets: $220

Green-Themed Cocktail Attire

EVENING EMCEE

Marion Brooks, NBC 5 Award-Winning Anchor

EVENT OVERVIEW

On October 4, 2024, Greenlight Family Services, a not-for-profit organization providing adoption and counseling services for Illinois youth in care and young adults, will host its Greenlight’s 20th anniversary Celebration. Chicago NBC5 Award-Winning News Anchor, Marion Brooks will once again emcee as more than 300 supporters of Greenlight enjoy cocktails under the Tiffany dome in the iconic Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center while bidding on silent auction items and taking a chance on many raffle prizes. 

During the seated dinner, Greenlight will present the inaugural Dr. Maria Nanos Leadership Award to its own CEO, Dr. Maria Nanos, LCSW, PhD and the Greenlight Founders’ Award to Genie Miller Gillespie, JD in recognition of their incredible vision and dedication to its mission.

The awards program will be followed by a one of a kind Live Auction filled with many exciting prizes. All funds raised through Greenlight’s 20th anniversary Celebration will be in support of its mission. Greenlight Family Services has been preserving families, providing hope and protecting lives throughout the state of Illinois since 2003. Its mission is to achieve the best outcomes for families, young adults, and children by providing the highest quality services. Greenlight believes that all families, regardless of financial circumstances, should have equal access to legal and social work services in order to remain stable and secure. 

Greenlight manages the Adoption Listing Service for the state of Illinois and provides relative, non-relative, second parent, step-parent, adoption services as well as DCFS foster parent adoption and post adoption services. Since 2017, Greenlight has provided counseling and advocacy for survivors of college campus sexual assault through our Greenlight Counseling program. 

Please join us and make a difference in the lives of youth in care, families, and young adults in Illinois!

20th CELEBRATION HONOREES

The Inaugural

Dr. Maria Nanos Leadership Award

DR. MARIA NANOS, LCSW, PhD

During Greenlight’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, the Greenlight Family Services Board of Directors and the employees of Greenlight are proud to recognize its CEO of 14 years, the incomparable Dr. Maria Nanos, LCSW, PhD. Maria’s bold leadership has catapulted Greenlight into a successful statewide organization. In the beginning, Greenlight focused on providing legal assistance for the growing population of grandparents raising grandchildren with a small but mighty staff of only five people. Today, with Maria’s leadership and a staff of thirty-four individuals, Greenlight manages the Heart Gallery of Illinois and the Adoption Listing Service for the state of Illinois and provides relative, non-relative, second parent, step-parent, adoption services as well as DCFS foster parent adoption and post-adoption services. Greenlight provides services for more than 7,000 children, families, and young adults each year. 

Maria became the Chief Executive Officer of Greenlight Family Services in 2010. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Social Work from the Institute for Clinical Social Work in Chicago and her Masters in Social Work at Jane Addams, University of Illinois. Maria’s clinical career began in 1987 focusing on children and families of sexual abuse and neglect in the Chicagoland area. She rapidly moved into managerial positions supervising programs in areas of mental health, child abuse, sexual assault, DCFS investigations and, more recently, grandparents raising grandchildren. Maria is an avid advocate for human services in Chicago and is a frequent presenter at conferences and training sessions throughout the United States. Maria is an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago in the Master’s program and has a part-time clinical private practice. 

Greenlight is grateful to Maria for removing barriers for thousands of vulnerable children and adoptive families by strategically expanding access to legal and social services throughout the state of Illinois.

Greenlight Founders' Award

GENIE MILLER GILLESPIE, JD

Greenlight Family Services is proud to honor attorney Genie Miller Gillespie, JD, one of its distinguished founders. Genie co-founded the Center for Social Work (now Greenlight Family Services) along with attorney Dana Corman in 2003. Together, their goal was to provide high-quality legal backup plans for the growing number of grandparents raising grandchildren in Illinois and for ill adoptive parents.

Genie has been practicing law since 1993, primarily in the area of adoption, guardianship and assisted reproduction law, and was the President of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys from 2020 to 2022. She has been selected by her peers as a Leading Lawyer and Super Lawyer in Adoption & Reproductive Technology law.

Genie was a guardian ad litem appointed by the Circuit Court of Cook County to represent children in adoption cases for fourteen years. Genie has written numerous articles and has presented at multiple seminars about adoption and related issues. She regularly speaks with prospective adoptive parent groups about the adoption process.  She has also trained hundreds of attorneys to handle pro bono adoption and guardianship cases. She is the general editor and a chapter author of the IICLE Adoption Law Manual.

Greenlight is incredibly grateful to Genie and her continued legal and financial support.

A heartfelt THANK YOU to all of our sponsors.

To sponsor Greenlight's 20th Anniversary Celebration, please click 'Tickets' at the top of the page or contact the Development Team at dev@greenlightfamilyservices.org

Your crucial support expands Greenlight's reach and impacts the lives of thousands more youth and families for the next 20 years.