Chillicothe Woman is Winner of this year’s Record Breaking Duck Race

The 27th Annual Duck Race, to benefit The Center for Prevention of Abuse,  took place this afternoon in a way never seen before in previous races. Nearly 27,000 (26,855) ducks came racing down the street leading to Eastside Centre in East Peoria. This year's race broke the previous record of 25,000 ducks in the race. The first ten ducks won their owners some great prizes. The first duck to reach the finish line belonged to Cindy Greene of Chillicothe.  She is the winner of the $5,000 grand prize. Here is a full list of this year’s winners. 

Grand Prize $5,000 Sponsored by Associated Bank  Cindy Greene, Chillicothe IL 

$1,500 Sherman's Gift Card Sponsored by Sherman's  LaRae Muselman Pekin IL

$1,000 Macy’s Gift Card Sponsored by Macy’s Kathy LaHood, Peoria IL

$500 Shoppes at Grand Prairie Gift Card Sponsored by the Shoppes at Grand Prairie Marie Berner, Oak Forest IL

$500 Casey’s General Store Gift Card Sponsored by Casey’s General Store John & Diane Shelton, Washington IL

$500 Kroger Gift Card Sponsored by Kroger Shoshana Stewart-Happach, Pekin IL

$250 Kull Scape Gift Card Sponsored by Kull Scape Landscaping Julie MacFarlane, Edwards IL

$250 Hy-Vee Gift Card Sponsored by Hy-Vee Doris Thomas, Peoria IL

$200 VISA Gift Card Sponsored by Pain Management Group Corrin Harris

$100 Salt Gift Card Sponsored by Salt Rick Miller MD, Tremont IL

$100 Little Caesars Gift Card Sponsored by Little Caesars Jennifer Corey, Hopedale IL

We would like to thank all of the sponsors for making it possible for all of the money raised by this year’s race to go toward The Center’s services and programs. 

The Center for Prevention of Abuse staff would also like to thank everyone from the city of East Peoria for the warm welcome this year. Mayor Dave Mingus, Doug McCarty with Eastside Centre, Rick Swan from the East Peoria Chamber of Commerce, the members of the East Peoria Fire Department and so many others helped make this transition seamless. We appreciate all of their support from offering up the facility to the use of fire equipment to help make the race so impressive. 

 “The mission of The Center is to help every woman, man and child live free of violence and abuse,” said Executive Director Carol Merna. “The money raised from this year’s Duck Race will go toward that goal and help build a safe and peaceful community.” 

Those services include helping victims of domestic violence by providing counseling, shelter and other necessary resources. The Center also has programs supporting sexual assault and sexual abuse victims by assisting with orders of protection and providing counseling. Our Adult Protective Services caseworkers investigate and help elders and adults with disabilities that are being abused or neglected. All of the services provided to clients at The Center are free and confidential.  

The Center also offers Prevention Education. The goal of the prevention educators is to teach children, families and professional staff about things to look for to prevent or stop the various forms of abuse. This includes classes about building healthy relationships, body safety, preventing teen dating violence and anti-bullying. The Prevention Education program partners with over 100 schools and agencies to keep children safe. Last year alone, over 28,000 students in 6,000 classrooms heard presentations from The Center’s Prevention Educators.