Following an announcement that the two organizations would be merging in the near future, leadership from Human Support Services and Caritas Family Solutions gathered last week for a local town hall to offer more information and answer some questions from the community.

As previously reported, the merger announcement came via a press release shared Sept. 5.

In that release, Caritas CEO Gary Huelsmann and HSS President and CEO Anne Riley spoke about how the merger would allow folks from both organizations to better serve the needs of the community by combining their resources.

HSS has served Monroe County since 1973, providing residents with a range of comprehensive behavioral health services and supports.

Caritas was founded in 1947 and has expanded its purview over the years, originally focusing on facilitating the adoption process and now offering a range of services including a Senior Aides Program, marriage and pre-marital counseling and programming for adults with developmental disabilities.

Based in Belleville, Caritas has also expanded its footprint over the decades, opening offices throughout Southern Illinois.

The town hall took place Sept. 16, with a small crowd gathering in the HSS office at the corner of Route 3 and Country Club Lane in Waterloo.

Riley and Huelsmann both offered further explanation for and perspective on the merger, with Riley speaking on how much thought and time went into considering whether such a change would truly allow for improved and expanded care for those whom HSS and Caritas already serve.

“This is something that we, the organizations, have been working on for quite some time to determine if we were gonna be a good fit with each other,” Riley said. “We went through many, many months of meetings, worked with a consultant to really dig into what is our mission, what is their mission, and do we have a good mission fit together, and is what we’re going to do gonna help serve more people in our communities and bring additional services and build up capacity in the communities that we serve?”

Riley further expressed optimism for the merger, as did Huelsmann, who also discussed the benefits for people throughout the region and the care being taken to ensure the change that happens is smooth.

“I’m excited about the opportunity that this merger brings not just to the people of Waterloo and Monroe County, but really the people of Southern Illinois in a variety of ways,” Huelsmann said. “We’re gonna do this very carefully and very thoughtfully and in a way that allows us to build capacity, maintain that high quality that’s here and be able to share that quality in our other programs as we move forward.”

It was also noted that change among the two organizations would likely not be felt for some time as HSS and Caritas will not have their financial operations merged for the remains of this fiscal year, though the legal change will be taking place as previously announced.

“Really, when we cross over Oct. 1, it’s gonna look like, ‘Well what happened?’” Riley said. “It’s gonna feel like nothing because we’re gonna keep doing all those things. And then slowly with working with our funders in the state departments and so forth, we’re gonna figure out how to, over the course of the next fiscal year, make those come together so that we don’t jeopardize our services or any funding that we have together.”

As the town hall went on, discussion varied as Riley and Huelsmann responded to questions from those in attendance and offered additional thoughts on what the merger would mean for clients and the community.

Later in the meeting, one of the organizations’ board members chimed in to note that a non-profit merger is very different from a for-profit merger most people are more familiar with, involving a larger company buying out a smaller business and dismantling it for resources.

She said this in response to a comment from Riley, who reiterated the goal of the merger is for the organizations to be stronger as an organized unit.

“We are both non-profits,” Riley said. “Together, when two strong non-profits with long-standing, excellent reputations with the state – which is what we looked for – come together, we’re stronger together instead of apart.”

On this same point, she and Huelsmann again noted how the merger will serve as a combination of resources but also a combination of reputations.

They spoke about how both organizations have strong histories and are already well-regarded among grant-providers. Combining these histories and expanding the organizations’ overall footprint will likely improve their ability to receive grants.

Among the many questions asked by community members in attendance, concern seemed to be focused on any negative side effects of the merger while there was also eagerness to hear about potential new opportunities and services.

One individual questioned possible improvements for HSS clients who work in the organization’s workshop or receive housing through the nonprofit.

Riley noted that such programs won’t see any immediate changes, though the sharing of resources as part of the merger could lead to improvements down the line.

Another question expressed a particular concern about staff and any potential losses among them. Huelsmann and Riley stressed there are no plans for a major change to current staffing.

“We need people,” Huelsmann said. “We don’t produce widgets or cogs. We produce services, and we have to have people to do that.”

As Huelsmann fielded a number of questions about Caritas’ youth services, one guest questioned what a merger with Caritas will do to benefit adult clients of HSS.

It was noted Caritas offers a number of services and programs pertaining to such individuals, though Riley also commented that bringing in such youth-focused programs would likely serve to benefit future adult clients.

“When you have that kind of early intervention in a community, you can provide resources and prevent a lot of other things from happening,” Riley said. “Very early identification of intellectual and developmental disabilities and get them to those resources.”

Further sentiment from Riley and Huelsmann indicated hopes for the future as the merger is expected to lead to more ideas to improve or expand services and could provide greater lobbying power among state politicians.

Another key point expressed in some way throughout the meeting was that both organizations are already making their best efforts to improve and expand their services while handling uncertain or wavering grant funding.

As was said, a merger of the two organizations should improve their ability to make positive change while weathering negative change.

“Things change,” Riley said. “Things are going to change whether we decided to merge or not. Things are gonna change now that we have made that decision to merge. We most definitely are stronger because we’re together. We will be able to weather those changes in the way that we need to.”