Kankakee Times

Illinois State House District 79 candidate Jackie Haas stated, "I had a chance to visit the Hidden in Plain Sight trailer, which is staged to show parents where kids may be hiding drugs or other harmful items." She made this statement in a Facebook post on June 17.

"I had a chance to visit the Hidden in Plain Sight trailer, which is staged to show parents where kids may be hiding drugs or other harmful items," said Haas, according to Facebook. "This was such an informative presentation and I highly recommend it for anyone who has the chance! Thank you to Pledge of Life, the City of Kankakee, the Kankakee Sheriff's Office, the Kankakee County Coroner's Office, and the Kankakee County State's Attorney for making this trailer possible and available to the community!"

The Hidden in Plain Sight trailer is set up to showcase some of the drug paraphernalia that teens might have and the ways they might hide those items, according to a news article published by the Daily Journal. James Schreiner conceived the idea after more than three decades as an educator, including two dozen years at Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School. He is now the Drug-Free Communities Grant Project Coordinator for the Iroquois-Kankakee Regional Office of Education.

Screenshot of State Rep. Jackie Haas' June 17 Facebook post | Rep. Jackie Haas' Facebook page

The trailer includes a bed, dresser, desk, and a bathroom. The desk holds a computer that projects informational slides. Additionally, there are plans to include a drop ceiling to show where items might be hidden out of sight and almost out of reach.

According to the Iroquois-Kankakee Regional Office of Education, the project brings together community partners, including Pledge for Life Partnership, the Kankakee State’s Attorney’s Office, the county sheriff’s office, the City of Kankakee, and youths in the Kankakee Area Career Center (KACC). Students in the KACC programs have designed and constructed the Hidden in Plain Sight trailer.

Rep. Haas was elected to represent Illinois’ 79th House District in December 2020. She is CEO of the Helen Wheeler Center for Community Health; she was previously a social worker at Riverside Medical Center and holds a Bachelor of Social Work from Valparaiso University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Illinois-Chicago.