CARE is a fully registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit group, all volunteer, originally organized to stop the construction of a waste-to-energy incinerator in Lockport. We are not outsiders. We live here too, so what happens in one community affects all of us. People would not give up their free time if they were not truly concerned about what happens to the environment in Will County. In 2025, we celebrate thirty years of hard work and many significant successes.

In the 1970s, the U.S. Congress passed a slew of regulations aimed at addressing damage to the environment and threats to human health from over 100 years of unchecked industrial development. These regulations continue to form a strong framework for the Environmental Protection Agency's objectives.

Proposed changes and amendments to regulations will always be needed. However, involvement of ordinary citizens is what gets this done today, not the public waiting for the legislature at the federal or state level to step up on its own, as was the case over fifty years ago. And lawsuits brought on behalf of ordinary citizens by environmental nonprofits are crucial to this effort.

CARE has the connections. We have partnered with the Greater Chicago Legal Clinic and larger environmental nonprofit organizations like Sierra Club and Earthjustice to advise us and help represent our communities in rulemaking, permitting, site remediation, and enforcement issues. We go after the tough problems, like toxic coal ash storage and PFAS contamination, that we believe threaten the health, well-being, and natural environment of Will County.

The real day-to-day "legwork" on environmental issues is done by the smaller, local grassroots groups like CARE. It is not done by state-level agencies or the larger environmental nonprofit organizations that have far more monetary resources. We also are proud to provide crucial hands-on learning opportunities for law and business students at local universities.

CARE relies on donations and fundraising efforts to meet the minimal expenses incurred from running a registered nonprofit made up completely of volunteers. Typical expenses include website hosting, email software, a “snail mail” post office box, printing flyers and handouts, and simple branded merchandise.