June 2009 Archives

The Fountaindale Public Library is definitely reading on the Wild Side in its summer reading program.

I was at the library several days ago and there was a line of people signing up for the reading program that gives away free books, prizes and a chance to be entered into a drawing to win a family membership to Brookfield Zoo.

On the day that I was there, a librarian said she had signed-up 147 adults, 125 teens and 217 children - all in one day.

The program called "Read on the Wild Side" began June 8th. It challenges children, depending on their age to read 15 books or 15 hours by Aug. 15.

My kids are off and running in their summer reading, and I hope yours are too. See you around the Brook.

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Many are aware that Bolingbrook is in the process of getting a really cool nature center, the Hidden Oaks Nature Center, located near Boughton and Schmidt roads. However, now the center is about to get even cooler with the addition of more funding from the state.

Bolingbrook Park District will receive $389,000 from the state's Open Space Land Acquisition and Development grant (OSLAD), to fund further projects such as the construction of a picnic pavilion, two outdoor classroom areas, composting toilet facility, additional parking area, trails, and interpretive signs.

"It's wonderful, we would not be able to do the development without the funding," said Alice Eastman, the park district's superintendent of natural resources. "It was wonderful for Gov. Quinn to release that funding especially during these economic times," added Eastman.

The OSLAD program is a state-financed grant program that provides funding assistance to local government agencies for acquisition or development of land for public parks and open space. Projects funded under the program vary from small neighborhood parks or tot lots to large community and county parks and nature areas like Hidden Oaks. The program is financed by a percentage of the state's Real Estate Transfer Tax.

Under OSLAD guidelines, development and renovation projects are limited to receiving a $400,000 grant maximum. The nature center, which cost about $6 million to construct, received close to the grant's maximum funding. This is the nature center's second string of state funding. Two years ago the district received $750,000 to help pay for the 17 acres nature center site.

The new funding will pay for half of the nature center's proposed projects. Without the funds, Eastman said perhaps only one of the outdoor classrooms would have been realized. The others would have remained on a wish list. Several other sources will be tapped to pay the balance, she said. Planning is already underway and construction will begin next year, and it will not delay the center's June 20th, grand opening.

The center is designated LEED status (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) at the platinum level.
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As I've said several times in my blog, I'm relatively new to this town and am not always up on all of its past controversies. Before I moved to Bolingbrook, when I heard of this area, most of what I heard involved the name Drew Peterson. He has allegedly put the town of Bolingbrook on the map in a bad way.

Sometimes in the media there can be "over exploitation" of a given topic. Moving here, I had that feeling about the Peterson case. So I had no desire to throw my "two-cent" into an already burning media frenzy.

This past week he was indicted. Then this weekend I was at my mother's house and we watched Dateline, which aired a segment on the Peterson case. For the first time I learned about the details of the case.

And while I continue to hold my judgment on the accused, I kept thinking about his children. Those poor kids have lost not one but two mothers and now perhaps even a father.

When you watch national news and view a deeply tragic story like the Petersons it's easy to dismiss the subject as something happening to people "way over there," hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles away. They almost seem like 'non-people," just stories on the television. But the children in this story are Bolingbrook's very own. And I wonder what have their lives been like here? What do their friends say? What do the not so nice kids say - and we all know they're out there.

I just wonder how will the Peterson children internalize, heal and grow from such tragedy. So many questions, so many concerns for some so young?

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This week I attended an outdoor ceremony to announce the school winners of the Shopping 4 Schools Award Program. We sat in the warm sun in the center of he promenade right next to two huge mounds of plastic bags filled with empty water bottles.

If you're a parent you've likely heard of it. It's the area program that sent many local children scrambling for empty water bottles and parents saving their Promenade sales receipts. In fact shopping at the center increased because of the program.
"This program is better this year than last year," said Kris Kuchler, director of marketing for the Promenade. "And from a sells perspective we did see an increase of at least 5 percent," she said.

By the looks of the stacks of water bottles, many of our children were vigilant.
My daughter did not let a water bottle in our house go uncovered. In an effort to help clean up the earth, the program collected 150,000 empty water bottles to be recycled

About 20 area schools participated in the program, which gave away $10,000 in gift cards. The winning schools were in this order Tibbot Elementary, Wood View Elementary and Bolingbrook High School. The three received about $1,000 each in gift cards to buy school related items at the Promenade shopping mall.

The schools earned points in a variety of ways including shopping at the Promenade, donating blood and participating in the March for Babies Walk, and of course collecting those thousands of water bottles.

Schools officials and administrators came to the ceremony to receive prizes and gift giveaways such as plaques and green-earth bags. Here is what some of them had to say.

"It's extremely rewarding in this economy to see us as a community work together. It was a school effort, and the children will be thrilled," said Tibbot Principal Ana Wilson.

"The kids were excited," said Wood View Principal Mark Stange, "Anything the mall has done, it all benefits our student. The mall is right here in our backyard and that helps us to be in the top five," he added.

My only complaint about the entire program is that the kids weren't at the ceremony to see their collaborative efforts.
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Some may have heard that Field Day in the Valley View School District will be just a little more tasty this year. Andy's Frozen Custard Shop, located at 260 S. Weber in Bolingbrook is donating about 14,000 custard cups to area schools in Bolingbrook, Naperville and Romeoville.

"It's something we started doing in Springfield Missouri," said business owner Andy Kuntz, "It started because we wanted to make school a better place. We wanted to help kids remember that last day of school and make that last week more fun," said Andy.

Eighteen schools will be getting their six-ounce custard cups filled with Oreos and vanilla custard. What is a custard cup anyway? Andy says it's richer (made with more eggs), fresher (made every hour) and more flavorful (served at a warmer temperature so that the taste buds fail to freeze and you're able to taste more of the ice cream).

On Field Day some schools have elected to pick-up their desserts for the day's events, while others will receive front-door drop-off by the Andy Custard staff, a crew of folks who have been spending the last two weekends filling custard cups.

Tibbot Elementary, who held their Field Day events on May 22, consumed about 800 ice cream cups and loved every minute of it.

"The children enjoyed their treats very much. We are extremely grateful to Andy's for providing this for our students and staff given the tough economic times," said school principal, Ana Wilson.

The company started its "A Cone For Every Kids" ice cream promotion in 2006. Last year they gave away between 3,000 to 4,000 cups to three Bolingbrook schools. This year they're giving a much bigger serving. And even with the giveaway, business at the store in the Brook is up 30 percent. Congratulations to all the kids in the district and have a great Field Day and summer vacation

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My daughter and I have a secret little pastime. One we've shared for about three years now. Every Tuesday and Wednesday night we get our popcorn and bottled water and sit in front of the television to watch American Idol. When it's really good we even call up my mother (an even bigger fan) on the telephone to hash out controversy over the best and worst performances.

Although we haven't voted since Jennifer Hudson got kicked off, we consider ourselves die-hard fans. Some of you may have heard that Bolingbrook is having its own talent show, " Tomorrow's Top Talent." I would love to be a judge on that panel. And I would hope that I'm more the Paula Abdul and not the Simon Cowell type, but who knows, because it gets a little brutal around my house when the wrong contestant is sent packing.

The Bolingbrook Park District is teaming up with The Bolingbrook Promenade to pull off this show, the first of its kind in our town. And while I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun, I doubt that we'll get 45,000 million people texting their favorites contestants. But the cool thing about it is that organizers are looking for the most talented in the areas, and not just Bolingbrook. So competition could be, in the words of Tyra Banks, "fierce."

Residents from surrounding communities such as Naperville, Romeoville and Plainfield are all invited to participate. Organizers are currently accepting applications at The Promenade guest services as well as at any Bolingbrook Park District facility.

"We're trying to get all communities involved, not just Bolingbrook," said Christy Sorenson, Bolingbrook Park District recreational supervisor. "We're just looking for the next talent in our area."

And I say don't be shy, if you've got game, bring it. The show stretches beyond singing to include dancing, comedy, band performances and more. And like American Idol, I think it comes down to who "wows" the judges the most.

The winner will get a $1,500 gift card to shop-til-they drop at The Promenade. Just imagine that, that could be somebody's new summer wardrobe.

Acts will be reviewed in advance via video tapped submission, and the top acts will perform at The Promenade Bolingbrook on Saturday, June 27 or Saturday, July 25.

Submission and application guidelines are available online at www.bolingbrookparks.org and www.thepromenadebolingbrook.com. The winner of the Tomorrow's Top Talent will be announcement at the park district's Last Blast Festival on August 29.

Can't wait to see who takes the mic. See you at the show.
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