Kids making good news in the community

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By Mary Stanek

Your correspondent in Archer Heights and West Elsdon

3808 W. 57th Place • (773) 284-7394

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Aristotle said, “Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.” It gives me great pleasure to write about some of the awesome things the youth in our community are doing to help make things better.

The Saints Bruno and Richard School student council organized a winter gear drive. They collected new gloves, mittens and winter hats for Cradles to Crayons. Per their website, Cradles to Crayons provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations with the essential items they need to thrive at home, school and at play.

The St. Turibius religious education students help with the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry. One past Thursday the Confirmation students spent an evening helping when a large donation arrived. The students sorted and restocked the pantry.

West of Archer Heights, Girl Scout Troop 20399 is hosting a clothing drive to help create a clothing closet for the homeless and refugee community that Holy Cross Hospital serves. All sizes of adult clothing are needed. The drive takes place on Sunday, Feb. 5 at St. Daniel the Prophet’s Mulligan Hall from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

I would like to share what I read in the St. Daniel the Prophet bulletin as a warning to all of us. It appears someone had “washed checks” from their sport’s account. I heard about this latest type of fraud from some friends. When a check is stolen it is treated with a chemical formula to remove its ink. Then the check is rewritten with a higher amount addressed to a new payee and deposited. Checks are stolen from the mail and then washed and rewritten. So, when writing checks these days, one must develop better habits of monitoring accounts. It is also suggested to use gel pens instead of regular ink pens. Regular ball point can be washed off paper quite easily, but gel pens permeate fibers making it more difficult to wash.

Much work has been done to clean up the area around the Orange Line tracks close to the 5300 block of South Kenneth. Thanks to the Archer Heights Civic Association, Addiction Recovery Services, 23^rd Ward Ald. Silvana Tabares, 23^rd Ward Streets and Sanitation Supt. Brian Flynn and the City Bureau of Forestry. (I hope I didn’t forget anyone.) The before and after pictures are quite dramatic.

If you are a member of the AHCA, the next meeting will be Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the St. Richard Church Hall. It should make for an important and interesting meeting being that it is candidates night. Several candidates in the upcoming election have been invited to speak.