
Gerald Brand explains who HEIDI helps and what the mission statement says.
The Area Rotary met in a regular meeting on Tuesday, January 3rd at Toni’s Restaurant in Benld. Gerald Brand, the founder of HEIDI along with his wife, gave information about what exactly HEIDI does along with how and why it was started.
Gerald Brand and his wife Sandy, who are the co-CEO’s of HEIDI, were both born and raised in Gillespie. Brand enjoys the small town life as he mentioned HEIDI would not be what it is today with the support from the small town community. “We would not get this kind of support if we tried to start it in any large city,” Brand opened.
First time speaking in public about the foundation, Brand explained that HEIDI was named after his daughter Heidi who was a special needs person. Heidi had a brain tumor removed when she 6 years old and everything that happened from the surgeries from there on out qualified her to be a special needs person. “We went through numerous hardships,” Brand explained, “As I am sure you realize.”
The main hardship faced by the Brand family was getting their daughter an education. The school districts around here are not set up for special needs people, so Heidi’s education was not going to come from Gillespie or even Benld. Heidi was bused to Staunton, Mt. Olive, Bunker Hill, and eventually Bethalto where she graduated from Civic Memorial. The main dilemma faced by Gerald and his wife was, “why a person with special needs that has issues getting from point A to point B has to get up earlier than all of the other kids, ride on a bus to get there and then ride on a bus on the way home and get home an hour later than all the other kids.”
After graduating high school, Heidi went on to live by herself. Being the hardest decision Gerald has ever had to make, he decided to let her go and live her last 10 years in Springfield at Near North Village. Living in the area for 10 years, Heidi could never land a job. According to Gerald, she took resumes with her everywhere she went, but no one would hire her. Heidi, who could talk and use the right side of her body, was referred to as the “Ann Landers” of the building.
Heidi was always trying to get involved in everything that was going on and was very active in the Citizens Coalition for Disabled Individuals along with a member of Springfield Center for Independent Living. Both organizations tried to improve the lives for disabled people. When Heidi lived away from her parents, the Brands tried to stay in touch as much as they could with their daughter, but they never realized how involved Heidi was until she passed away in May of 2011.
One letter Brand shared with the Rotary was from the Near North Village. There was a fire on the 5th floor at the Village while Heidi was living there. Heidi was living on the 8th floor, but the entire building was evacuated. Lacking an evacuation plan, Heidi went to a meeting and expressed her concern about the lack of evacuation plans. The Brand’s received a letter stating that there is a “mandatory law in the City of Springfield that any building over 2 stories must have an evacuation plan” after the death of their daughter Heidi. The primary reason for this law was because of Heidi Brand.
Being confined to a wheel-chair because of her weight, Heidi relied on Access to be mobile in the City of Springfield. Heidi lacked metabolism due to the countless surgeries she experienced, but had no problem getting around in the wheel-chair. Access is a transportation company designed for disabled people that ran until 6:00pm. Heidi went to the meetings and expressed her concerns about the time cut-off and now, because of Heidi, the buses run until 9:00pm.
During the last couple months of her life, Heidi came home and visited with her parents for weekends at a time. “It was always about what she could do for other people,” Gerald explained, “It was never about what anyone could do for her.” As they were sitting in the living room night as Heidi did her bead work, Gerald started playing around with her name. Questioned by Heidi, Gerald told her there has to be some thing we can do with your name to help other people and get it bigger than we thought we could do. “Being the most selfless person I knew,” Brand finally came up with something for her name.

Heidi in the blue longsleeve shirt visited her parents on the weekends during the last 2 months of her life.
HEIDI, which stands for Helping Every Individual Develop Independence, remains the same as it did then. “Heidi loved it, but it never got off the ground,” Gerald went on to say. The mission statement for HEIDI is “helping special needs people.” As the organization has had to turn away some people, they have to focus on the specials need people that fall through the cracks and “do not have the national support.”
Every one was busy at the time, but after Heidi passed away the Brands decided it was time to lift HEIDI off the ground. Having to start somewhere, the Brands put all the donations from the funeral into a bank account and started calling close friends and explaining his new idea. “Everyone agreed to help, I have not came across one person that has said they do not have enough time,” Gerald noted. HEIDI has a “fabulous group of people involved” which consist of 9 board of directors and 5 trustees. John Ronald is the president while JO Kelly is the vice-president.
HEIDI, which meets on occasion, works entirely upon donations. The first fundraiser was at Dorchester Picnic where the group raised close to $1,000 after 3 days. The second fundraiser was at Fall Festival where the group raised more money than Dorchester in just one day. The third and most recent fundraiser by HEIDI was a dinner, dance, and silent auction where the group raised almost $10,000. At the dinner, HEIDI gave away their first computer to the local special education program where the computer benefits close to 12 children.
Just recently, HEIDI with the help of Ace Hardware in Carlinville donated $700 worth of tools and material to Illinois Valley Rehabilitation Work-shop in Gillespie. The donation occurred after receiving news that the work-shop would not exist without some help of supplies and tools. The workshop, which creates yard decorations for any holiday, received hammers, sanders, drills and countless other items necessary for their daily work.
HEIDI is a lot bigger than what they expected. After experiencing most of their “growing pain”, the group has an attorney and CPA that both are donating their time as they try to set up a 501c3. The nonprofit organization is still looking at incorporating.
“It is unreal how a living room idea has turned into this,” Brand closed, “It just boggles your mind, it is unreal. It all comes down to the small town people who donate time and time again. There is no other place I would rather do this.”
Gerald explained that right now, HEIDI is just CUSD #7 wide and eventually plans to move on to growing into county wide with hopes of reaching state wide and maybe even nation wide at one point in time. Gerald did say HEIDI is growing a lot faster than he had imagined.
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