Around and About in West Chicago - 12 Dec 2007

     At its annual Christmas Luncheon/Meeting, the Lions Club presented the Melvin Jones Fellowship to Tom Feltes, owner of Sonny Acres in West Chicago. The award, named for the founder of Lions International, is the highest honor a club member can receive. Club president John Vires said, "Tom has demonstrated the qualities of generosity, spirit and giving in ways to benefit the community. He has been a positive asset to the club since he joined." Accepting the award, Feltes said, "I was not expecting this and am speechless. Thank you." Continuing a tradition, each Lion club member attending made a freewill offering of $5 to be donated to the food pantry of the Northwest DuPage Walk-in Ministry. The pantry, located in West Chicago, serves residents in Winfield Township.

AROUND AND ABOUT

     Coffee with the Mayor is from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at City Hall.

     "The Celebration of Joy" is the theme of Faith Community Church's annual Christmas Coffeehouse Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 15 and 16, in the mission center, 910 Main St. Beverages and cookies are served at 6:45 p.m. followed by the musical program.

     First United Methodist/First Congregational Church, 643 E. Washington St., Christmas Pageant is at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 16. The birthday party for Jesus follows the service.

     Glen Arbor Community Church, 204 Church St., presents the Christmas drama, "Imagine," at its 10 a.m. service Sunday, Dec. 16.

     Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1S260 Joliet St., Christmas Children's service is at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec., 16.

     New Life Bilingual Church, 464 Ann St., Children's Christmas program is at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 16.

     St. Andrew Lutheran Church holds its Christmas children's program at its 10 a.m. service Sunday Dec. 16, at Indian Knoll School, ON645 Indian Knoll Road. This year the church is celebrating Las Posadas (Spanish for "The Inns") from Sunday Dec. 16 through Monday, Dec. 24. The festival is a Christmas tradition in Mexico. Rev. Jamie Dubon said it is based on the Bible story of Mary and Joseph's nine-day journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem and hunting for shelter. The re-enactment takes place at the homes of certain members of the congregation and includes songs, food and prayer.

     Trinity Lutheran Church, 331 George St., hosts its Christmas Chorale service at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15.

     The library's "Family Holiday Craft" program is at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 17. Karin Krog teaches participants how to create and decorate a photo memory cube ornament. There is a $5 materials fee for each ornament. Then at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 19, the Canterbury carolers sing traditional carols. Call the library at (630) 231-1552, Ext. 4, to make reservations for the programs.

     Due to inclement weather, the regularly scheduled School District 94 Board of Education meeting on Dec. 11 was cancelled and rescheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 18.

     There are two wonderful opportunities to listen to the musical talents of the talented youth in our community. The high school's annual Holiday Concert is at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 18, in the Weyrauch Auditorium, 326 Joliet St. The concert features the Mixed Chorus, Women's Chorale, Acappella Chamber Choir, Concert Choir, plus the string and full orchestra. The high school Holiday Band Concert is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 20, and features both the Concert and Symphonic bands.

     First United Methodist/First Congregational Church is holding a Christmas Mourning or Longest Night service at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 20, in the chapel of the Congregational church, 525 N. Neltnor Blvd. The special candle lighting service illuminated the longest night of the year, which symbolizes sorrow and sadness. "While Christmas is a time of homecoming and joy for most people, it is a time of sorrow and stress for others,” said Rev. Steve Zeigler, pastor of the church. "The service lets us offer comfort and support to those who are hurting at this special time."

     Two businesses recently opened in the historic downtown district. T. J. Maintenance, 113 Main St., is a commercial window cleaning company, specializing in high and middle rise plus ground/route buildings. The business is more than 10 years old and for the last seven years has been based in our town. Owners are West Chicago residents Tom and Dawn Morrow. "We really like being located on Main Street as we feel we are in the hub of the community," said Dawn.

     Sierra Gems, 129 Main St., specializes in custom-made jewelry. Owner Steve Nelson has been involved in the jewelry business for more than 20 years and was the owner of two jewelry stores in Wheaton.

     Participating in the "Swim 4 Sakutopi" swim-a-thon Dec. 2, members of the high school swim team and Sharks swim team raised more than $500 through pledges. The proceeds go toward the purchase of a shipping container to send educational materials and supplies to help students in the war-torn area of Angola, Africa. This is a segment of the We-Go 2 Africa project started three years ago. In addition to sophomore Kelly Loftus, who organized the swim event, the participants included Lizzie Gola, Ashley Dunn, Madeline Warkins, Kelly Dunn, Mikki Winn, Kevin Plagge, Ashley Amodeo, Ania Skorupski, Maya Skorupski, Yvette Kruk, Caitly Madsen, Shawn Staton, and Rachel Howe.

     Mayor Michael Kwasman often mentions that the youth of West Chicago are the future of the community. With this in mind he made a proposal to the West Chicago Council of Governments to form a committee consisting of representatives for School Districts 25, 33 and 94, the Park District, the Youth Commission and other-youth oriented organizations to study the needs of youth in the city. Among the items of discussion are target groups and their needs, appealing program options, available locations and coordination. "Working together we can try to pull together our various resources and have programs to appeal to all youth without duplication from each taxing body and/or youth groups," he said " An extra benefit is expanding the venue of volunteers for such programs as the Youth Commission Open Gym Nights." Another objective is the provision of programs in arts, drama and music, "meeting the diversified interests of all our youths." The facilitation of the committee is under the leadership of the Police Department. The initial meeting was held in November and the next one is scheduled for February.

     High school student for the month of November is Chelsea Steck. One teacher describes Chelsea as, "a student that embodies the characteristics of the Community High School mission statement of learning, living and leadership on both the local and global level. Her involvement includes working on the We-Go 2 Africa project and helping with the English as a Second Language classes.

     School District 33 testing of the emergency telephone system went well with only around 5 percent of the phone numbers failing. “This means the numbers we had were disconnected and our school secretaries are working to update these," said Becky Koltz, Director of Community Relations.

     Please remind persons that do not have access to a computer that the library prints out my column for persons to read. My e-mail is merleburl@earthlink.net