PEORIA MAGAZINE July 2022

I t’s almost impossible to think of Easterseals Central Illinois without thinking of Steve Thompson. For 42 years, he has helped lead the organization, touching the lives of thousands of children and their families. On Aug. 31, Thompson will retire as president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit that provides specialized pediatric therapy services to children with developmental delays or disabilities and other special needs, from birth to age 21. Last year alone, Easterseals served more than 5,000 central Il linois families – totaling 36,000 hours plus of specialized therapy – at its headquarters in Peoria, its service center in Bloomington, and its Timber Pointe Outdoor Center on Lake Bloomington in Hudson. In all, the organization reaches into 50 Illinois counties. When Jon Michael, immediate past chairman of the Easterseals Board of Directors and chairman of RLI Corp. in Peoria, was asked to name Thompson’s most admirable qualities, he didn’t hesitate. “He’s a genuine person. He’s caring. He’s a word-class leader,” Michael said. “Steve is Easterseals in central Illinois. He’s an iconic figure in Peoria.” WHERE IT ALL STARTED Thompson grewupwith two brothers and a sister in Grandview, Missouri, in the southern suburbs of Kansas City. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Missour i State University, Thompson attended graduate school at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. While his brothers went on to careers as a naval aviator and Air Force pilot, he “stayed really close to the ground,” finding his calling while coaching wheelchair athletes as a graduate teaching assistant. “From there, I had a growing sense that this is where I wanted to make my career, helping people with disabilities and others to reach their full potential,” he said. “I really think the genesis of it was at the U of I.”

That same mission continues to drive Thompson and his wife of 41 years, Morene “Mo” Thompson. “We just have the belief that children deserve the best,” he said. “A lot has changed in the non-profit sector, the health care sector and certainly at Easterseals over 40-plus years, but what has not changed is that our passion for children remains as strong as ever. “At Easterseals, we’ve made a simple promise over the course of 100 years, and that is the promise of progress,” he said. “We see kids … reaching milestones. That’s a joy that’s the same as it was over 40 years ago.” FOCUS ON THE FAMILY The children of Easterseals are all part of Thompson’s extended family. Daphne Fay, whose son, Hayden, 12, received services at Easterseals for five years and is now an agency ambassador, described Thompson as a cheerleader. “He leads by example. He attracts energetic, inclusive and positive employees,” she said. “Every single person who works at Easterseals fulfills that mission and that’s what makes Easterseals so successful.” The Thompsons’ dedication extends to their own large immediate family. They already had four biological children when they began adopting in 1994 with the addition of two brothers. That was followed by two sisters a little more than a year later, and then by five siblings from an orphanage in southern Brazil in 2001. They rounded out their family in 2006 with another group of five Brazilian siblings. In all, the couple has 18 children ranging in age from 20 to almost 40, with almost 30 grandchildren. Thompson credits his wife for managing their large family and rural Tremont homestead. “At one time we had 14 kids under one roof. Imagine the likelihood of all 14 getting up ‘on the right side of the bed,’” he said, chuckling. “I often say my wife could run the Pentagon.”

There were chore charts and structured meal and bed times. Today, looking at retirement with children scattered across the country, Thompson jokingly said he and Mo can travel and “mooch” off the kids without having to purchase an RV.

Mo and Steve Thompson

THE POWER OF PHILANTHROPY

Easterseals has a diverse funding stream – from private insurers and foundations to state funding for early interventions, grants, contributions from individuals and organizations, and philanthropy. The latter makes up about 30 percent of its funding. “Easterseals has grown so much in the last 40 years. The entire budget in the 1980s …might have been $500,000. Today, we have a $14 million annual operating budget,” Thompson said. The well-known annual telethon, which began in 1975 under John Bearce, who led Easterseals prior to Thompson’s tenure, raised millions for the organization before it was retired in 2020.

JULY 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 57