ST. CLARE FOUNDATION TO HELP FUND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH NEEDS
Formed in 2023 by members of Felician Services, Inc., the St. Clare Foundation is a new non-profit organization with hopes of collaborating with community partners to improve youth and adolescent behavioral health in the community.
Led by executive director Clare Kessler, the St. Clare Foundation is aimed at being a funder, ambassador, and facilitator of creating those opportunities within the Centralia area.
While currently focusing on getting their name out in the community and spreading word of their mission, the foundation will begin the first part of their three-pronged mission in early 2026 through a grant application process.
“Our primary goal is to continue the legacy of the Felician Sisters in this community,” said Kessler. “We want to work with community partners to improve access to resources and holistically respond to all that goes into the prevention and care of the behavioral health needs for individuals ages 5 through 18.”
“We are now fully operational and functioning in the community, and we are ramping up to get the word out about who we are and letting people know that we are here and what we seek to do, which primarily will be through our grant process.”
The foundation’s grant application process will open on Jan. 2, 2026, with notifications of acceptance expected to arrive in March.
Kessler said that in addition to funding new projects and initiatives, the new non-profit will also begin working toward its remaining objectives of serving as an ambassador and facilitator within the community.
“We want to find new ways to bring organizations together,” Kessler explained. “I think there is already a lot of great work happening in our community. We don’t want to reinvent the wheel. We want to amplify the work that’s already being done.”
The St. Clare Foundation currently operates under a six-person board comprised of members of the Chicago-based Felician Services, Inc. Kessler did state, however, that the board hopes to welcome local members as the foundation continues to implement itself.
“We are excited to begin expanding our board and bringing on local professionals to help guide the direction of the foundation as we get more engaged in our work,” Kessler said.
Kessler, a Centralia native and graduate of the University of Illinois with a Master of Public Health, said she accepted the position of executive director in 2024 after returning home from St. Louis.
“I came back home and was working remotely in my previous job, trying to figure out what was next for me. I was ready for a change,” Kessler recalled. “I heard about this opportunity with the St. Clare Foundation, and it was what I was looking for professionally.”
“With my background in public health and my wanting an opportunity to impact the community on a public health level rather than a patient level. This position was just a combination of all of those things coming together. Having an opportunity to give back to my hometown was something I couldn’t pass up.”
The St. Clare Foundation is expecting to host an Open House and ribbon cutting at its 115 E. 2nd St. location this fall as it continues to implement itself in the community.
