Friday, November 30, 2012
Living local legend Robert Parker Coffin, 95, returned to Long Grove this week to reminisce about the history of the village, fighting for open space and witnessing the growth of surrounding suburbs.
Robert Parker Coffin served as village president of Long Grove for 20 years, plus two years as a trustee, starting in 1946. Then, he spent another 20 years on the village's Plan Commision. Today, he and his wife of 68 years, Betty, live in Lake Forest. They are filled with living history. Coffin, an architect and engineer, helped develop Long Grove's Master Plan. He designed the original covered bridge in Long Grove, and has a main thoroughfare that runs through town named for him. Locals still ask about him. "People always ask about the legend behind Robert Parker Coffin Road in Long Grove," said Mara Sabath, co-owner of Peppermint Stick at 410 Robert Parker Coffin Road, Long Grove. "I always wanted to meet him." Sabath invited the …
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Jen Rubino, 17, a high school senior, has braved two dozen surgeries so far. After one, a kind act inspired her to start a charity that has mushroomed, gained celebrity endorsements and helped children in unimaginable pain.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
- Pam DeFiglio
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Sunday, November 25, 2012
As an 11-year-old with a chronic illness, Jen Rubino was having a dark day. She'd had her 13th surgery, and she was lying in a hospital bed, in pain. When she received a handmade greeting card saying "stay strong" from a volunteer she never met, she says it made a world of difference to know that others were pulling for her to make it--and it really did help her to stay strong. Now 17, Rubino, of Park Ridge, a senior at Maine South High School, has founded a charity to give other seriously ill kids that sense of hope and caring she says the card meant to her. Though Rubino struggles with chronic pain every day, she has managed, through Cards for Hospitalized Kids, to help 10,200 kids in hospitals in many states, helped by endorsements …
Friday, February 10, 2012
Second Dollar Denim Days will culminate Feb. 29; members of the community are encouraged to get involved to raise funds for research and awareness of Rett syndrome.
Lake Zurich-based nonprofit Two Hearts Rock is working in concert with the Spencer Loomis Elementary School Student Council to bring awareness to Rett syndrome, a rare and debilitating genetic disease for which there is no cure. All proceeds from the Dollar Denim Days fundraiser will go toward advancing research of the disease, which robs young children diagnosed with it of both their verbal and motor skills. The impetus for the fundraiser comes from the plight of 3-year-old Amelia "Emmy" Foster and her family. Emmy was diagnosed with Rett syndrome in the summer of 2011. Emmy’s mother Colleen is a former teacher at Spencer Loomis, and school staff made Two Hearts Rock co-founders Kerry Hughes and Lori Butler aware of Emmy’s diagnosis and …
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Justin Katz is collecting tattered American flags for an official flag retirement ceremony.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Korrina Grom
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Tuesday, January 10, 2012
When Justin Katz was a fourth-grader, he set a goal as a Cub Scout that he eventually would earn the rank of Eagle Scout. Now a senior at Lake Zurich High School, Katz is just a couple of months away from accomplishing that goal. First, though, he needs to complete a big project that he has been planning for months. Katz is collecting tattered American flags, which he then will retire during a special ceremony at a Feb. 17 Scout campout in Oregon, Ill. He set out the collection boxes this week at each of the Lake Zurich fire stations and the Lake Zurich Police Department. Another box soon may be placed at a local church. "I'm very ecstatic that the boxes are out," said Katz, a member of Troop 92 out of Hawthorn Woods. The road to becoming …
Joe LoVerde
7:45 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
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