r/southernillinois

My wife and I have a decent amount of old blankets we are getting rid of and we would like to donate them to dog shelter, anybody have a good suggestion to where we can give them to?

hey hey, like the title says; i’m a 34 y.o., autistic, and gay dude that’s looking for friends in the area. i’ve been in southern IL since 2020 and still don’t really have any friends here except my boyfriend of 10 years friends. i’d like to have my own friends ya know? it’s hard to find likeminded people around here in my experience. it’s quite conservative and i’m the complete opposite of that. haha. my main hobbies are listening to music, playing video games, watching stand up comedy, staying politically informed, i’m a foodie, i enjoy making people laugh, i’m extremely 420 friendly, i smoke daily. listening to music is my main autistic special interest. some of my favorite artists/bands are Madonna, Marilyn Manson, Björk, Dolly Parton, Peaches, Underoath, Katy Perry, Nina Simone, Spice Girls, Mariah Carey, Cher, Yoko Ono, Fever Ray, Lily Allen, Mylène Farmer, LeAnn Rimes, Bebe Rexha, and more!

sooo yeah, feel free to message me if you want. i love to yap. haha. i will share photos of myself so it’s not creepy…unless i’ve already done that 😬

The word is pronounced, “PILLOW”, not, “PALLOW.”
Stop it. Just stop it. You sound retarded. Not that there’s
Anything wrong with that, but .,..M’eh?

that is Saline County or close, and NOT Marion Eye Care.

Woman in early 40s and newish to the area looking for musical fun. Adored the Detroit scene (and totally get that vibe isn’t here) and not wanting to travel all the to STL to get down. No longer indulge in substances. Not really into the church or conservative crew. Perhaps I’m looking for a unicorn, but where would you recommend? If you’re similar, let’s chat and perhaps we can make our own way. PLUR ✌🏽💗

Has anyone in the southern region actually had any luck getting started in this program? lol specifically in the Madison county area I have left messages and spoken on the phone with the very nice folks several times over the last three years; have been placed on a "wait list" a couple of times and have been told someone would be contacting me back directly several more but literally nothing ever happens. Does this program actually exist in the Madison/St. Claire region?

My partner is a Missouri naturalist and their program is so cool and robust, but I'm not even looking for anything fancy. Would just be nice to put in some volunteer time on my side of the river in an organized manner instead of always just tagging along with her.

I've been visiting Thrive for 3 yrs, I notice fewer & fewer ppl there. Does another dispo have better deals? I tried HP once, didn't like sitting in the large room waiting took about 39 mins. Order online always but I can be in & outa Thrive in 10 mins or less. I like vaps & gummies. TIA for any opinions. 😎✌️

Hi y’all! My name is Makiya and I’m a reporter with Chalkbeat, an education news outlet. I’m specifically in Chalkbeat’s Chicago bureau, and I cover how the state and federal government impacts education in the city and more broadly in Illinois.

Today, we had a major development at the state level with the launch of the Illinois Department of Early Childhood. Before, early childhood services were split between three different state departments. Now, they’re all housed under one roof. I have an explainer I published this morning that gives you an overview of the new agency, as well as a Q&A with the department secretary if you need some context.

I’m curious what folks in the ECE field think of this change? I know some states already have a similar set-up, but I’m curious if any ECE professionals in those states experienced any problems during the agency’s transition process or first few years after being opened to the public? I also just welcome any insight on questions you might have as an expert in this field seeing this change in Illinois. Or if you’re from Illinois, I’d love to get your thoughts on how you’re navigating this!

The executive director Tony Eaton scams donors by telling them dog training costs 30k but in reality most of the training costs them 0. Not to mention he is the angriest person I have ever met. Every time we went to class he did nothing but be pissed off about something. He constantly got into with people in the program. In the last 2 months 13 people walked away. And from what I have learned there are only 4 students left and they are afraid to lose their dog if they leave.

2 board memebers have resigned within a week of each other.

He uses the Down The Leash bank account as his own personal ATM they have gotten over 300k in donations over 3 years and have only little over 100k left and the cost of the training of the dogs barely hit 10k and that was for vet bills and the dogs themselves.

Ask for their true Financials. They dont exist.

Karma is a b though.

This is what it should be-

The program follows a "train the trainer" model rather than training the dogs directly. Instead of the organization taking possession of a dog for months of professional training, handlers attend regular classes with their own dogs and are taught how to train the dog themselves.

During classes, instructors demonstrate training techniques, explain service dog tasks and public access skills, observe handlers working with their dogs, and provide feedback and homework to practice between sessions. The expectation is that the handler completes the majority of the training outside of class through consistent daily practice.

In this model, the success of the service dog depends heavily on the handler's commitment, the quality of the instruction provided, and the amount of time spent reinforcing the training at home. The organization serves primarily as a coach and mentor, while the handler is responsible for carrying out most of the dog's training.

The only real cost to Down The Leash is the Dog and the vet bills which one student who left was served a paper to return her dog even though she completed all the hours and was told to either pay $1200 or return the dog.

So why are you telling people the cost of each dog is 30k they had over 30 students at one point. we all met once a week and received 2 hours of instruction which 1 hour was always a sales pitch to buy crap. Or a rant of how someone made him mad. The costs don't add up to what is being delivered.

He gets a salery of 61k a year which is fine in most non profits but he was getting that when he was working a full time job else where. only committing really 2-10 hours per week not going say he didnt do paper work or other things but 61k for that amount of work is not ok.

People have a right o be paid fairly for their work but people don't have the right to take donated money and pay their personal property taxes.

They appointed a treasure when the president put the treasure on the bank account tony got mad and had the treasure removed from the bank account. I mean the Treasurer really.

My first half of this was a rant but I'm not asking for you all to take my word. Ask people there have been over 15 people that left because of the hostile envoirment. The truth is out there just have to be ready to listen.

Will be visiting St Louis for an extra long weekend with my girlfriend. We're looking for at least two new friends that can go caving with us in the Illinois Caverns State Recreational Area.
The park requires groups of at least four so we have our fingers crossed others can join.

If anyone is thinking of moving to Royalton or Ziegler please don’t. My experience there has been awful. The Town is full of criminals(sex offenders) and drug addicts on government assistance.

I (21 F) will be in the area for a short time for work! Looking to meet new people to hang out and connect with for the time I'm there. Any advice?

I'm pretty far south in southern Illinois and social status seems to be *everything* in the small towns here. (Where I am, it's only small towns.) It's pretty darned insular. If you were born here, and went to school here (through HS), you get points. The number of points varies by town. The length of time your family has lived here (how many generations) gives you points. How much money you have gives you points. If you, yourself are not monied/important but are related to someone who is, points.

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If you are not from here, start over with no points. If you are single and not from here, deduct points. If you are married, add points. If you have children and they go to school here, add points. If you have money and/or position, add points. You still won't have the position of someone from here who is related to everyone else here, though, and will be viewed with suspicion at times.

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If you are not from here but marry someone from here who is in the positive categories above, add points based on their standing. You still will never be from here, but you will reap some of the benefits and advantages. (we'll still have our eye on you)

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Who else has noticed this?

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I gotta place to live now! I got roommates but now I have more freedom and can eat real food! Now I just need to make friends^^ feel free to dm me:) I love movies and if you can pay your way I get 4 free movies a week^^ I also love the library or Barnes & nobles ❤️ anyways just wanted to share my excitement or make some friends!