Daily Egyptian

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to provide additional services. Christopher Julian-Fralish, coordinator of student health services at SIU and H Group board member, said the SIU Counseling Center offers services similar to the H Group. “As far as goals for the H Group and those I have personally working at the counseling center, there are similarities and differences,� he said. “I believe that both work toward assisting people to make better lives for themselves.� Julian-Fralish said the main difference between the two groups is that the H Group works to meet the needs of people who sometimes find it difficult to access services because of financial issues, while the counseling center meets the needs of students who pay for the services through student fees. However, he said both groups have collaborated in numerous ways over the years. “There have been both research and programmatic partnerships in the past,� he said. “The H Group serves as a practicum and internship training site for numerous SIU students, (and) members of the H Group and SIU serve on several community coalitions together.�

The holiday shopping season is off to a record start. Businesses nationwide began to offer special sales as early as Thanksgiving evening and continued on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday to kick off the busiest shopping time of the year. A record 247 million shoppers — a 9.2 percent increase from last year — took advantage of the offers and visited stores and websites during the four-day weekend, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. Customers nationwide spent a combined $59.1 billion between Thursday and Sunday, which is a 12.8 percent increase from last year. Sherry Taylor, director of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce, said the weekend benefited Carbondale businesses. “To me, it looked like the economic impact was pretty big for the area,� she said. “I drove past the mall and several shopping centers in Carbondale, and the parking lots were full. Obviously, this is exciting because the sales tax dollars help the city and allow us to improve roads and city services.� Several independently owned businesses tried to get a share of the record-setting revenue by offering specials on Small Business Saturday, a nationwide shopping day created by American Express in 2010 that aims to draw attention to smaller retailers. More than two dozen Carbondale stores registered to participate in the event. “I think it’s important for people to consider it because the small businesses are owned locally, and the money stays local,� said Rick Reeve, owner of Shawnee Trails. “I think the small businesses make towns unique and give shoppers more opportunities.� Reeve, who said his store offered a couple of sales, said his business had a good turnout Saturday despite seeing very little business Friday. He said he believes customers tend to choose big-box retailers Friday before giving their attention to the smaller stores the day after. “There were a lot of people out who voiced that they were excited to shop on Small Business Saturday,� he said. “It was encouraging. We were getting business just because of the kind of store we are.� Doug McDonald, owner of Phoenix Cycles, said his store also saw a business increase. He said he did not offer many incentives to customers because it typically isn’t popular during the holiday season. However, he said that didn’t stop customers from shopping there Saturday. “We had people come in and tell us that they were here downtown shopping locally rather than going to the big department stores, which was pretty neat for us,� he said. “We had new customers come in who we really hadn’t seen in the store before.� Scott Thorne, owner of Castle Perilous Games, said his store participated in the event but did not see an increase in business. “Sales for us were pretty typical for a Saturday,� he said. “We didn’t see any bumps in business because of Small Business Saturday. We saw an increase on Black Friday, but not on Saturday.� Thorne also said he was disappointed because of all the day’s hype. He said his store will participate in more promotions throughout the holidays to help jumpstart business. “I was hoping to see more,� he said. “Because so many students leave for the holidays, we typically see a decrease in business around those days.�

Matt Daray can be reached at mdaray@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 254.

Riley Swinford can be reached at rswinford@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 268.

NICOLE HESTER | DAILY EGYPTIAN

Campus Colonial employees Brenda Smith and Kyle Blumenstock refurbish a house on South James Street with property owners Maryanne and Bruce Chrisman. Chrisman said many owners don’t perform routine maintenance on their properties. “This is an interesting problem to have,� Chrisman said. “Do you rehab it or do you tear it down?�

0HUJHG JURXSV H[SDQG JRDOV VSDFH 0$77 '$5$< 'DLO\ (J\SWLDQ A community organization looks to spread its outreach and help improve the quality of life in southern Illinois. The H Group, an organization dedicated to behavioral healthcare, plans to advance its organization by constructing two new buildings in Carbondale to be completed next year. The H Group offers multiple behavioral health services for people with mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders, and it offers family and youth services such as big brother and sister programs as well as early childhood mental health consultations. The group’s expansion came after its merge with Southern Illinois Regional Social Services this summer. The new buildings are located on Emerald Lane on the city’s west side and just off South Illinois Avenue near Arnold’s Market. They will replace the group’s location on the 600 block of West College Street, said John Markley, director and CEO of the H Group. Markley said the expansion will allow the group to offer more services and lower the company’s operation costs. He said the new buildings will be a significant upgrade because the group leases its present location from the city, which prevents it from being able to make any changes to the property. Markley said the idea for a new location as well as some funds for the move came from the group’s merge with Southern Illinois Regional Social Services. The July 1 merge made the organization one of southern Illinois’ largest employers, he said. Markley said SIRSS has been working

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hat we have done is blended the services of both organizations and have essentially continued on the services in all the places we previously had them. —Kathy Freitag chief administrative officer for the H Group

toward the goal of expanding and, through collaboration, the H Group was able to construct these buildings and add improvements to existing programs. The merge has been a great asset to both organizations’ goals, Markley said, and both groups’ strengths helped to improve their programs. “(Before) we were referring to one another. Now we have that one large companionable service,� he said. Kathy Freitag, former executive director of SIRSS and chief administrative officer for the H Group, also said the merger has been beneficial to both groups. “The merger really helped us to bring together more thought on the issue (of behavioral health), and we went from looking at one large building to two separate areas with different services in them,� she said. Freitag said despite the location change, it is still business as usual for the group’s employees. “What we have done is blended the services of both organizations and have essentially continued on with services in all the places we have previously had them,� she said. Freitag said the merged group is now evaluating ways to offer better services and expand when possible. She said one option the organization has examined is to offer methods such as walk-in appointments, and the group is working

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