Lions Club Holding Blood Drive Next Week

The Darien Lions Club has its annual community blood drive on Feb. 12 at Lace School.

The Darien Lions Club will host its annual community blood drive on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at Lace School, 7414 Cass Ave. The blood drive, which will last from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., is conducted in conjunction with the local blood bank, LifeSource. Darien Lions Club members have been involved with the blood drive for more than 30 years, with an average of about 50 people donating blood in recent years. The drive is staffed by Lions Club members, community volunteers and health care professionals. The donation process takes about one hour, including registration and a snack after donating is completed, which itself takes around 10 minutes. This year staff from Adventist Hinsdale Hospital will also be present and will provide free cholesterol and …

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Cakes for a Cause: Woman Donates Baking Profits to Help Feed Hungry

Darien resident Julie Stone bakes sweet treats for people and donates the profits to the People's Resource Center, which helps feed families and get them back on their feet.

Interested in Volunteering for DuPage County?

The County is providing Public Health Emergency Preparedness Training and is seeking interested people to participate. Anyone over the age of 18 is welcome.

DuPage County Health Department in the search for volunteers. The County is providing Public Health Emergency Preparedness Training and is seeking interested people to participate. Anyone over the age of 18 is welcome. Volunteers will be trained in basic response activities related to public health emergencies, specifically related to a bio-terrorism event.  No special expertise is required. All are invited to attend the training and become better prepared in the event of a disaster. The Public Health Emergency Preparedness Training will be held: REGISTER TODAY AT www.dupagehealth.org/training Click HERE for more details on the event.  For more information contact Jeremy Hirst, Emergency Response Coordinator, (630)221-7888.

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Cakes for a Cause: Woman Donates Baking Profits to Help Feed Hungry

Darien resident Julie Stone bakes sweet treats for people and donates the profits to the People's Resource Center, which helps feed families and get them back on their feet.

A Darien woman is making life a little sweeter for people in the area by combining her greatest passions: baking and volunteering.  Julie Stone has loved baking all of her life, but it wasn't until a few years ago that she realized she could put her skills to work by helping people. For her Christmas present in 2009, Stone's husband signed her up for cake-decorating classes at Wilton Homewares in Darien.  She enjoyed it so much that she brought the hobby home and decorated cakes, "but that got fattening pretty fast," Stone said. So she started baking cakes for other people—book clubs, Sweet 16 birthday parties and more.  Need a little 'good' news in your life? 'Like' our Good News, Chicago Facebook page for inspiring and uplifting stories …

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Youth Groups Ship Aid to Sick, Wounded Soldiers in Afghanistan

Countless area groups came together to collect about 1,000 pounds of supplies for soldiers overseas.

Three Companions Youth Groups from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church packed and shipped 101 boxes to wounded soldiers in medical units in Afghanistan, adding up to roughly 1,000 pounds of total supplies, and about 225 pounds of Halloween candy. On Nov. 18, three Companions Youth Groups gathered to pack boxes, managing to pack the boxes within two hours. Through the generosity of Monroe School Hinsdale fifth grade class, the Cass 63 Foundation, Morgan Stanley employees of Oak Brook, Companions Youth Groups from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and friends and neighbors in Darien and Timberlake, the groups were able to collect food, games, magazines, hygiene products, letters of support, and books to ship. Soldiers’ Angels is a nonprofit …

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Lifetoucher Program Joins Senior Citizens, Students

Through Darien School District 61, volunteers tutor children, build relationships.

The senior citizens of the Lifetoucher Volunteer Program reach across generations to help young children of the Darien School District No. 61 improve academically. With 24 volunteers this past school year, the program successfully provided instruction and tutoring to students who needed extra help, no matter the subject. Some volunteers worked on poetry and reading with the children, while others provided math exercises and helped them make flashcards. Lillian Brown, an 83-year-old volunteer at Mark DeLay School, worked with second-graders, mostly on an individual basis. She said she aimed to improve their reading skills and read poems, both to and with the children. At home, the children were encouraged to read to their families and …

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Shop with a Hero Makes Holidays Merrier for Kids in Need

The Darien-Woodridge Fire Protection District partnered with the Darien Police Department in the fourth annual event Saturday.

Outside, it was a slushy, rainy, grey December morning. But inside the Darien-Woodridge Fire Protection District's headquarters Saturday, the atmosphere was anything but dreary. Forty volunteers from Darien-Woodridge and the Darien Police Department joined forces to help bring some holiday joy to needy kids during the fourth annual Shop with a Hero event. The firefighters and police officers took 23 area children shopping at Walmart before bringing them back to the station to wrap the gifts and enjoy a gourmet breakfast prepared by a firefighter who used to be a chef. Each child had a budget of $155 to spend on gifts for their parents, siblings and anyone else they needed to surprise this season, said Darien-Woodridge Lt. Mark Cooper, who …

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