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Parade on Saturday will honor soldiers  Share
A parade on Saturday afternoon will serve a trio of very special purposes. First, it will honor area soldiers. Next, it will help Lincoln-Way West High School students fulfill a service project for Make a Difference Day. And third, it will help Operation Care Package gather non-perishable food and small gift items to be sent to soldiers on active duty overseas. The parade is a joint effort between the New Lenox Chamber of Commerce and Lincolnway Christian Church. It steps off at 12:45 p.m. at the New Lenox Commons, 1 Veterans Parkway on October 24.
Participants who already have signed on include Mayor Tim Baldermann, Police Chief Bob Sterba and members of his staff, the New Lenox Fire Department and students from Lincoln-Way West. The parade will travel from the Commons to Haven Avenue to Gougar Road, then to Lincoln-Way West, where there will be a celebration with guest speakers and all the soldiers who are participating. ''We are inviting any soldiers who have come home from the wars,'' noted Terrie Stoeckley of Lincolnway Christian Church. ''We want to honor them. We want the high school kids to 'get' what these guys are doing for us and for our country. ''If people would like to participate, they can call the church office at 815-485-3004.'' Stoeckly said Lincolnway Christian Church took up the cause at the request of District 210 High School administrators. ''We got involved because Lincoln-Way West called us to help them with a service project for Make a Difference Day,'' she explained. ''We came up with the idea to help the soldiers and presented the idea to the high school. They liked the idea, so we started to investigate and found Operation Care Package. We met Debbie Smothers (co-founder of OCP, with Pat Curran) last week, and we were very impressed with her story and the mission of the organization. It started because her brother is in the military and asked her to send 'CARE' packages to a couple of his service buddies who never got packages from home. ''They now send 150 packages per week and hope to send 10,000 for Christmas.'' Operation Care Package, whose goal is to ''Let No Hero Be Forgotten,'' collects items all year round for mailing to overseas soldiers. Saturday's parade organizers are hoping to collect items to help the group reach their 10,000-packages-for-Christmas objective. Drop-off locations are Lincolnway Christian Church, 690 W. Illinois Highway in New Lenox; New Life Church, 500 S. Gougar Road; Lincoln-Way West High School, Illinois Highway at Gougar Road; Berkot's, 2141 Calistoga Drive; and Old Plank Trail Bank on Veterans Parkway. Items should be dropped off by end of business on Friday, October 23. Suggested items for donation include men's black and white crew work socks, AA and AAA battery packs, shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, shaving cream, eye drops, dental floss, granola and 'power' bars, peanut butter and jelly in plastic jars, beef jerky and similar snacks, pouches of tuna, salmon and chicken, dried fruit or fruit snacks, instant oatmeal, nuts and trail mixes, coffee and powdered creamers, gloves, hand warmers, cookies, Ramen noodles, pre-sweetened powdered drink mixes and Easy Mac macaroni meal. More information about the parade on Saturday is available at www.lincolnway.org. Operation Care Package is a 501 c-3 Public Charity and all donations are tax deductible. The group accepts monetary donations, and since postage is a major expense, happily accepts first class postage stamps. For more information on how to help, go to www.operationcarepackages.org. Karen Haave is a reporter for Russell Publications.
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