Within a few weeks, The Kewanee Voice will move operations to a new downtown office space, relocating from their current space at the senior center. The move comes after months of work by the board chair.

“I am pleased that Kewanee Voice will be moving downtown,” said Board Chair TD Welch. “This has been a goal of The Voice for a while. It is important to us to be located in the heart of Kewanee and the community we serve. We thank the City of Kewanee and all of our supporters and advertisers for helping us make this possible.”

When The Kewanee Voice began publishing news on its website in May of 2023, the Kewanee Senior Citizens board generously offered office space in the Henry County Senior Citizens Center.

“We will be forever grateful to the Kewanee Senior Citizens,” said Voice Publisher Mike Berry. “Without their assistance and belief in our mission, establishing The Kewanee Voice as a nonprofit wouldn’t have been possible.”

The Kewanee Senior Citizens has acted as a fiscal sponsor for the Voice during the lengthy process of receiving nonprofit designation from the IRS. The fiscal sponsorship has enabled the Voice to accept tax deductible donations.

But since the online news publication’s inception, the hope for Mike Berry, Managing Editor Susan DeVilder and the board of directors, which includes Welch, Paula Kapacinskas, Nichelle Morey, Van DeVilder, Jesse Humphrey and Jean Berlinski, has always been to move into a downtown office where the Voice could feel more integrated into the community it covers.

“With this move, I feel that The Kewanee Voice will now be even more connected to the community, its businesses and its residents. We will have a space of our own where people can drop in, give us tips and speak to us about issues that are important to them,” said Susan DeVilder.

The new office space will be located in the former Kirley and Sons building at 121 N. Tremont Street, sandwiched between the Salvation Army and the Kewanee Historical Society.

There are still a few small renovations and projects that need to be done before the move is possible, but the plan is to be in the building by Aug. 1, with an additional goal of holding a formal ribbon cutting, as well as an open house during Hog Days.

“This move will ensure that we can continue to be the ‘voice’ of Kewanee for all its news and local events,” said Welch.

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