Girl Scouts and the Neverending Giving Season

This troop continues to give after they've separated.

For my regular readers, last week’s column discussed a Junior Girl Scout troop from Park View Elementary whose generosity extended beyond the troop’s time together. This week's column will focus on a similar troop from Forest Glen Elementary, who disbanded at the end of the school year. I'm sure their selflessness will improve the community for years to come. Troop 726 consisted of 13 community-conscious girls who met at least once a week: Meghan Buechner, Sophia Coronelli, Olivia Demeris, Payton Esposito, Erika Freund, Audrey Kief, Avery Kiker, Allie Maltby, Nicole Mattson, Miranda Miscinski, Samantha Moody, Annike Strauch, and Catherine Trant. With moms at the helm, the girls pursued their mission to enhance the community and learn daily…

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Your Volunteer Guide for Glen Ellyn

One Group's Mission to Cleanup the Great Western Trail

Volunteers gather to clean up our local trail

Come rain come shine, it’s trail cleaning time! With this year’s Earth Day having just passed, there’s no better time to think about our environment. By environment I don’t just mean pollution, greenhouse gases, and ozone layer-holes. I’m talking about the world directly around us, the things we see (and possibly use) every day. The sidewalks in front of our homes, the parks down the street, the baseball fields around the corner and even the trail we hike or bike on Saturday mornings. 'But I don’t know how to help the grass grow, or spread the trail dirt evenly and properly,' you may be saying. None of that matters. This particular volunteer effort is devoted strictly to trash removal. Things that don’t belong, water bottles strewn from …

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Your Volunteer Guide for Glen Ellyn

A Week Not Fit For the Weak

"Celebrating People in Action"

In 1974, former President Richard Nixon released an executive order to establish National Volunteer Week. Since then every sitting president and even local mayors and governors have requested Americans put their efforts toward improving their communities through various outreach organizations. Each year during one week in April, our fellow Americans band together to illustrate the week’s theme and “Celebrate [and become] people in action”. Sponsored by the Points of Light Institute in combination with the Hands On Network, this year’s Week is coming to an end. It’s not, however, too late to get out and do something active! Though we generally encourage volunteerism throughout the year (hello, what’s the theme of this column?!), this is the…

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Your Volunteer Guide for Glen Ellyn

Teens Taking Initiative

Teens4Uganda raises money to help educate a girl their own age, halfway around the world.

Most teens struggle to successfully juggle their schoolwork, social time and extra-curricular activities. Junior Anna Soane and sophomore Caitlin Soane, sisters, have found time in between soccer games and basketball practices to keep their grades up, spend time with family, maintain their friendships and start a fundraising organization. Yes, you read that correctly. The two Glenbard West students started their own fundraising organization, called Teens4Uganda. Teens4Uganda spawned from the sisters’ deep-rooted desires to help others. The entire Soane family does various community service/volunteer activities every year. Among said activities is the family’s own sponsorship of a Ugandan child, Mugeyni, through the Children of Uganda …

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Your Volunteer Guide for Glen Ellyn

Wiggles and Wine

Glen Ellyn WineStyles store hosts fundraiser for West Suburban Humane Society.

We’ve all seen those commercials spouting Sarah McLaughlin’s song, Angel, as a myriad of photos of abandoned and abused former pets scrolls across the screen. Some of us even change the channel or turn the television off to avoid the emotions it brings to light. Some even think, “that doesn’t happen here! People here don’t just abandon their pets. Other places, sure… but not here in Glen Ellyn!” The sad truth of the matter is that it does. It happens everywhere, even in our beloved village. This is the type of thing that Renee Cantalupo and her fellow employees/volunteers at the West Suburban Humane Society try to put an end to. According to the group’s website, West Suburban Humane Society began in 1972 as a “lost and found referral …

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