Fox Valley Food for Health Launches With Support of Tavolino

Oct. 8 charity dinner already sold out. Project aims to help cancer patients in the Fox Valley.

Fox Valley Food for Health project, a new non-profit serving the greater Tri-Cities area, is announcing their launch in 2012, with a charity dinner to be held Oct. 8 at Tavolino, a newly opened Italian restaurant in Geneva. FVFFH is takinga new approach to serving the community by linking high school student volunteers to cancer patients and their families. Tavolino, a new restaurant in Geneva, will be hosting the dinner at their restaurant at 305 W. State St. in Geneva, to support the FVFFH project. The dinner will start at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 8, followed by a silent auction. Tavolino reports that support for the project has been unbelievable and that tickets for the event were sold out within 48 hours, as people look forward to an evening of …

• Photos (3)

Rally for Ralph and Win a Weber Gas Grill! (Woof! Woof!)

Yes, Ralph Dantino is a manly man. And so it's appropriate for a manly prize (gas grill) at this Sunday's Rally for Ralph. There are also Bears tickets and a 42-inch TV. Need we say more?

A Weber gas grill, a night at the Herrington, Bears tickets, a weekend in a Chicago condo and a 42-inch television set are just a few of the items to be raffled at the “Rally for Ralph” Sunday, June 3. If you're a man or a romantic, or both, you couldn't ask for a better set of prizes or a better cause for a raffle. The fund-raiser, with a casual picnic atmosphere, will be held from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Riverview Banquets, 1117 N. Washington Ave., Batavia, along the Fox River. The afternoon of family fun will include games, music, the raffle, food for purchase and a cash bar. Proceeds will benefit the Dantino family of Geneva, to help defray medical expenses associated with Ralph’s three-year battle against appendiceal cancer, a rare form…

•  1 Comment
• Photos (2)

Hands Around the Courthouse Underline Issue of Child Abuse in Kane County

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Here at home, it's an ongoing battle for CASA of Kane County. Thursday's courthouse meeting is a "glass-half-full" signal of hope.

"CASA volunteers are a formidable force." "These children, our children." "... 86 children lost their lives ..." "Child abuse crosses all race, economic and cultural lines ... " Scores of people held hands in the historic Geneva courthouse at noon Thursday, celebrating National Child Abuse Prevention Month and CASA Kane County's "glass-half-filled" efforts to represent 500-plus children each year.  Kane County Chief Judge Robert Spence, Juvenile Court Judge Clint Hull and CASA Executive Director Gloria Bunce led the brief ceremony of the event sponsored by Exchange Club of the Tri-Cities. The CASA program began in 1988. Since then, it has tried to live up to its motto of “replacing a life of hurt with one of hope.” One of the speakers read…

•  1 Comment
• Photos (7)

Random Acts of Kindness

New Batting Cages a Home Run for Geneva's Baseball Team

Parent volunteers contribute time, talent and treasure to help Geneva athletes succeed.

Every so often, you see examples of people stepping up to do something good for their kids and community, just for the sake of doing something good for their kids and community. It happens a lot in Geneva. Here's one example, passed along by a Patch reader: batting cages. A bunch of Geneva parents decided that the Geneva High School baseball team could use some new batting cages for practice. So they talked to varsity baseball coach Matt Hahn and Athletic Director Jim Kafer, got the appropriate permission, held fundraisers, bought the equipment, put it together, improved the field and just got it done. "We felt the old batting cage was getting a little ratty looking and antiquated, and a couple of us dads got together and decided we wanted…

•  1 Comment
• Photos (2)

Matt Henry

2:55 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Great to see. We are blessed by these parents stepping up.   more ›

Beth Bales

Think Green! And Eat Pasta for Posies

The sixth annual fund-raiser on Wednesday will help beautify Geneva for much of the year.

With the official start of spring just a few weeks away, there’s no better time to think about the beauty about to unfold across Geneva: green plants, green grass, green trees—and green, as in dollars—to bring beautiful flowers to downtown Geneva. Wednesday is “Pasta for Posies” day, the annual (this is the sixth!) Geneva Beautification Committee Spaghetti Supper fundraiser. The supper will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Riverview Banquets, 1117 N. Washington Ave., Batavia (the former Knights of Columbus building on Route 25, just south of Fabyan Parkway, by the Fox River.) Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 10 and younger if purchased in advance and $12 and $6 at the door.  What does that get you? Spaghetti (all you can eat…

• Photos (1)

Inspired QB at All-Boys School Thinks Pink, Pays Tribute to Grandmother He Didn't Know

A breast cancer awareness campaign at an all-boys' high school? That's exactly how one area student raised nearly $7,000 last year for LivingWell Cancer Resource Center.

Few teenagers like to part with a big check, but that’s exactly what Brock Krueger did last week, when the Marmion Academy sophomore presented an oversized check for $6,643 to LivingWell Cancer Resource Center during a ceremony at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. The money, originally donated in December 2011, was raised through a month-long campaign initiated by Krueger in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and in honor of his grandmother, Cynthia Carroll, who died of breast cancer at the age of 54 before he was born. Amid countless examples of people across the country who host Breast Cancer Awareness Month activities, Krueger’s story is distinct in two key aspects: He started his campaign at age 14, and he launched it at…

•  3 Comments
• Photos (1)

Lazarus House in $1 Million Feinstein Challenge

The homeless shelter wants donors' help in raising funds.

A St. Charles-based shelter that helps feed the hungry in central Kane County is looking for community support as it competes for up to $1 million in March and April. What Lazarus House, located at 214 Walnut St., earns from the Feinstein Challenge depends on donors. All donation sent in and marked specifically for the Feinstien challenge will be totaled at the end of April. Lazarus then reports that total to those running the challenge. Based on how well Lazarus does in raising donations and how many other nonprofits also participate, the $1 million fund will be divided among all charities who enter in the challenge. “We are grateful to the Feinstein Foundation for this annual challenge, which gives us an opportunity to bring attention to…

• Photos (1)

VIDEO UPDATE: Dancing With Geneva Stars Lives Up to its Billing

This is about as good a show as you can imagine.

Wow. We'd never been to the Dancing With the Geneva Stars fundraiser until Saturday night. Paula and I bought our tickets early to see what all the fuss was about. And let me tell you, in my opinion anyway, it's every bit as good as people say. I went to the practice run at around 4 p.m.—when the dancers rehearse the big finale as well as perform two practice runs of the individual dances—and stayed to the very end. Seeing the afternoon run-throughs gave me a little perspective that maybe was a little different than other audience members. For starters, I learned that these dancers have terrific stimina. I was exhausted just watching the practice rounds and wondered where they possibly could get the energy to do it "one more time" for the …

• Photos (21)
• Videos (1)

Vote for Sydney Smith's 'Causes for Freedom' Leadership Project!

Starting Feb. 1, you have a chance to vote for a project created by a young lady from Geneva that can change people's lives for the better. Here's how to vote for Sydney Smith's "Causes for Freedom" campaign.

Some people "choose to matter." Geneva's Sydney Smith is one of them. Sydney is a Geneva High School freshman athlete who is taking part in the Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy. As part of the "Causes for Freedom" campaign, Julie has put on fundraisers—primarily called "Cleats for a Cause"—to raise enough money to bring shoes and soccer equipment to the Uhuru Football Academy, whose mission is to build the the first youth football academy in Africa. Education is the cornerstone of the Uhuru Academy, and it is providing about 423 kids an opportunity they never have had before. Sydney's efforts already have collected or purchased enough gear to fill four 55-gallon drums. Geneva Principal Tom Rogers brought Sydney's project to the …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (3)
• Videos (1)