June

For complete text of each story, click on its headline.

NIC churches urged to reach out
to welcome ‘strangers’ among us

(June 28) In the sermon for the opening worship service of this year’s Annual Conference session, Roger Curless, Northern Illinois Conference (NIC) Lay Leader, called on members of local churches to “welcome the stranger” and actively reach out to those in the community who need God’s love.

Curless urged his listeners to “embrace and celebrate the ministry to which God has called each and every one of us,” to follow the model of Jesus and “see God in everyone you meet,” and take risks in order to share the good news of Jesus Christ with strangers.

The Service to Celebrate the Ministry of the Laity was held Thursday evening, June 6, and included an opening procession of laity, dramatic interpretation of scripture, renewal of baptism and a blessing of gifts and ministry.

Difference between friendly and welcoming

“There is a difference between a friendly congregation and a welcoming congregation,” Curless said. “A friendly congregation smiles and says ‘Hello,’ gives you a welcome tag, sticker or pin, shakes your hand, asks your name and sends you a letter. A welcoming congregation embraces you, wants to know what you need - what you are seeking - visits you and visits you again. It practices full acceptance - full acceptance. Strangers are not only welcomed, but they are sought out. And that is key. A welcoming congregation is an outwardly faced congregation: looking to where others are, not just waiting for others to come to them.”

Curless accused today’s church members of trading intimacy for cordiality. “We are friendly, but not connecting,” Curless said.

He noted that the ministry of the laity being celebrated in the service is a ministry of hospitality, caring and welcoming.

“Let us stop lamenting about the size of our worship attendance or membership roles and understand that when we fully claim our ministries of really caring about one another and really reaching out as followers of Jesus Christ in our work places, our neighborhoods, our schools, wherever we happen to be - when we let the love of God show through each and every one of us, every minute, every day, every place - then our worship attendance and membership roles will take care of themselves,” Curless said. “When our hearts, our minds and our doors are sincerely and truly flung open to everyone, then we will be seeking the stranger - welcoming the stranger.”

Not passive action

Curless said welcoming the stranger is not a passive action, it must be active outreach and evangelism. “And it is being intolerant,” he said, intolerant of all injustices including racism, agism and sexism.

“We are all in need of the love of God,” Curless said, “and we should be looking to what we can do for one another - unconditionally.”

Curless recalled the Gospel instructions to extend ourselves to the poor, the homeless, the hungry. “It’s not people just like ourselves that we are called to service,” he said, “but this Gospel lesson says that we are to go to those most unlike ourselves and welcome them, embrace them, love them.”

Curless told his listeners to overcome their nervousness about evangelizing and take risks. “We have a story to tell. We have injustices to attack. We have a world to help build into a new city, and we are going to have to get over being afraid to take the risks,” he said. “There are plenty of folks out there that will tell us to sit down and shut up, but we are filled with the joy of the Spirit and we cannot help ourselves. We have to be about the ministry to which God has called us. As individuals, as congregations, as an annual conference, as a church, if we are going to know the joy, then we have to take the risks.”

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‘Best ever’ Annual Conference
features worship, celebrations

(June 21) Nearly 1,250 clergy and laity gathered on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb Thursday, June 6, through Sunday, June 9, for the 163rd session of Northern Illinois Annual Conference - a gathering that many participants called “the best conference session” in many years.

Powerful preaching - from both clergy and laity- highlighted worship services that were designed around the conference theme “Called to Witness.” Services also included exuberant music from the choir of Broadway UMC, Chicago; Gospel Troubadours, First UMC in Oak Lawn; E-MOK Korean Clergy Drum Team; and African Community Praise Singers, Chicago.

Presentations highlighted mission and ministry around the Conference, featuring stories about children’s day-care centers, Hispanic ministries, English as a second language classes, ministries to Native Americans, leadership development, programs for youth, computer labs, development of affordable housing, support for missionaries around the globe, the work of 10-10-10 missionaries in the Conference, new church development, leadership development and Igniting Ministry advertising campaigns.

The Millennial Challenge

A special appeal was made for “The Millennial Challenge,” a plan to raise $1 million in this quadrennium for four projects to help children: Angola Partners, to work with the West Angola (Africa) Conference to build a residential school for orphans in Catete; India Re-connect to re-establish relationships with the India Methodist Church by helping modernize churches, schools and hospitals; After School Action Plan (ASAP) to expand and strengthen after-school programs in local churches in this Conference; and Mission Endowment Fund, to provide interest income to help fund future ministries for children.

The Rev. Myron McCoy and Mary Akers, co-chairs of “Operation Commitment,” a fund-raising campaign to support new church starts in the Conference, reported that more than $2 million has been pledged, and $1,136,328, has been received. But 47% of pledges are still outstanding and a concerted effort to bring in the remaining money - $997,896 - is underway.

State of the Church

In a “State of the Church” address delivered following the opening banquet on Thursday evening, Bishop C. Joseph Sprague evaluated the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC) against the Micah 6:8 charge to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.”

Sprague gave the NIC high marks for “walking humbly with God,” praising worship in district and conference settings, in youth and adult conclaves and in local churches as “the empowering focal point of church life.”

“We are studying and listening to the Bible as never before,” Sprague said, noting that there is “no dynamic congregation in this conference, regardless of size or locale, in which sophisticated adult education is lacking or Disciple Bible Study is not offered in its several phases over and over again.”

Sprague said the NIC “loves kindness considerably” and praised local churches for giving “record amounts of money for missions in 2001,” including $306,382.35 for “Love in the Midst of Tragedy” to aid U.S. victims of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and refugees in and around Afghanistan.

“This was over and beyond all other record amounts in giving,” Sprague said. “Our people are not strangers to kindness.”

But, Sprague said, “like the whole Church, the NIC only does justice minimally.” He noted that we focus on social services, such as food pantries, work camps and clothing closets that “address symptoms” but are not directed at the “causes of societal evil that maim and kill in the first place.”

Sprague urged members of the NIC to “push your congregations and your Conference” to do justice “by lobbying the state house in Springfield, Congress in Washington and the power brokers of Chicago and your own locales.”

He also urged members of local churches to study the United Methodist Book of Resolutions and “Social Principles.”

Winkler and Miller

Presentations during Annual Conference were made by two officials from the General United Methodist Church.

Jim Winkler, General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS), reported that GBCS is going to call on the 2004 General Conference to declare the next quadrennium as a period of study of our “Social Principles” leading up to 2008 and the 100th anniversary of our social creed. “Our Social Principles are at the heart of our denomination,” he said. “They make us unique.”

Winkler said the United Methodist “Social Principles” are the reason members of other denominations “readily identify United Methodists as those who are on the front lines of social action.”

“I envision the General Board of Church and Society leading and facilitating at all avenues of the Church renewed study and commitment to the Social Principles,” Winkler said. He added that plans include studies, workshops, a new web site, resources and a newly designed brochure of the Social Principles that could be used by local churches in new member classes and in Advent and Lent studies.

Dr. Craig Miller, director of New Church Development for the General Board of Discipleship, told NIC members that “the most effective evangelistic strategy is the creation of new faith communities.”

Pointing out that a faith community must have both worship and discipleship systems, Miller encouraged churches to create small groups with a focus on “intimacy with others” and larger group worship settings “to focus on intimacy with God.”

Conference Center task force expanded

In legislative action, Annual Conference members approved a resolution to expand membership of the Implementation Team charged with locating sites and developing plans for a new Conference offices facility and an adult retreat center. Annual Conference voted to add two representatives each from the Cabinet, Outdoor and Retreat Ministries, Conference Council on Finance and Administration, Conference Council on Ministries, Conference Board of Trustees, Conference Council on Youth Ministries, and the task force on the Bishop’s Initiative on Children and Poverty. One representative will be added from each of the six districts, Marcy-Newberry Association, ChildServ, United Methodist Men and United Methodist Women.

Current plans are to build a Conference Ministry Center on Chicago‘s west side to house Conference operations currently located at 8765 W. Higgins Rd., and the ministry of Resurrection UMC. The facility will also include a 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week day-care center for children and a component for economic development.

The resolution called for the Implementation Team to make a preliminary report at the Nov. 23 Special Session of Annual Conference with initial recommendations and information about time line, design and funding. A proposal is expected to be voted on at the June 2003 session of Annual Conference.

In other action, Annual Conference voted to direct the Conference Chancellor and Conference Trustees to assert the right of clergy members and each local church within the NIC to send representatives to the annual meeting of the Chicago District Campground Association (CDCGA) which manages the Methodist Campground in Des Plaines. CDCGA trustees have refused to allow NIC clergy and laity delegates to vote at annual meetings since 1999 when the NIC Annual Conference voted to investigate charges that the campground was discriminating against homosexuals in violation of the denomination’s Social Principles.

War on Terrorism resolutions

Two resolutions were passed that criticized U.S. government action in the current War on Terrorism.

In the closest vote of the session - 310 to 255 - Conference members approved a resolution calling on the U.S. government to stop “its imperialistic intervention in small and subservient nations like the Philippines” and to “be a true benevolent superpower by addressing the root causes of war and terrorism which are poverty, injustice and oppression, through acts of justice, equality and peace, like engagement in humanitarian programs (e.g., the Peace Corps), the delivery of basic services, the creation of more jobs through just treaties, respect and protection of human rights and the establishment of communities of shalom all over the world.”

A second resolution praised NIC Bishop C. Joseph Sprague for “courageously” taking “the unpopular narrow gate (regarding war and enemies) that was taught by Jesus and is the stance of the United Methodist Church,” and resolved that a letter be sent to President George W. Bush “stating our opposition to military force as a way to either bring justice or promote peace.”

Conference members also approved an updated policy statement on Sexual and Gender Harassment and Misconduct. A resolution to establish a task force to locate and assist victims of sexual abuse and misconduct in the church was referred to the Commission on the Status and Role of Women.

In an ordination service on Sunday, June 9, nine persons were ordained elders; two were ordained deacons; and two elders from other denominations had their order recognized. In a commissioning service on Friday, June 7, eight candidates were commissioned as probationary members heading toward Elders orders; three candidates were commissioned as probationary members heading toward Deacons orders. Seventeen new local pastors received their licenses; and seven lay missioners and pastor mentors were commissioned for the Hispanic Plan.

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Bishop Sprague, NJ pastor participating
in interfaith delegation to Afghanistan

(June 21) Bishop C. Joseph Sprague and a New Jersey pastor whose brother died in the World Trade Center tragedy are part of a U.S. interfaith delegation to Afghanistan this month.

Bishop Sprague, an outspoken advocate for a peaceful alternative to the war on terrorism, and the Rev. Myrna Bethke, pastor of First UMC in Freehold, N.J., are among those meeting with the Afghan people June 16-29 in Kabul.

Sponsored by Global Exchange, an international human rights organization, the delegation aims to promote understanding and tolerance between Afghans and Americans. One goal is to identify ways that faith communities can support humanitarian projects in Kabul, including the rebuilding of schools, clinics or mosques destroyed during the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan.

Sprague’s involvement in the delegation to Afghanistan came by invitation from Global Exchange, based on his public participation in several interfaith discussions on peaceful alternatives to terrorism.

One of his goals, the bishop said, is “to demonstrate to at least some of the people in Afghanistan, particularly in and around Kabul, that there are those in the interfaith community in this nation who are committed to peaceful resolutions to these difficulties.” He also is interested in trying to establish long-standing relationships between Islamic groups and congregations in Afghanistan and Christian and Islamic groups in the U.S.

On a personal level, Sprague said he hopes to learn more about Afghanistan “rationally, emotionally and spiritually” to continue his work as a “more authentic and empowered interpreter of an alternative to violence.”

Bethke is one of the delegation’s two representatives from Peaceful Tomorrows, an advocacy organization founded by family members of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The organization promotes the search for effective nonviolent responses to terrorism and is dedicated to finding common ground with all people affected by violence throughout the world.

The oldest of five children, Bethke suffered the loss of her youngest brother, Bill, on Sept. 11. The 37-year-old was one of more than 300 employees of Marsh & McLennan who perished in Tower One at the World Trade Center.

Despite her grief, the pastor immediately was opposed to a military response. “From the beginning, my hope and prayers were that we did not respond with violence,” she explained. “I just had such a profound sense of sadness that that was the route we [the United States] took.” The Freehold congregation, where she has served for five years, is paying her expenses for the Afghanistan trip.

Other participants in the delegation include Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit and Dave Robinson, national coordinator of Pax Christi USA.

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Carrasco leading Mission Discovery to Puerto Rico

(June 21) The Rev. Oscar Carrasco, director of Connectional Ministries of Northern Illinois Conference (NIC), is an adult leader of Mission Discovery 2002: Puerto Rico, June 15-27. The trip includes 15 youths between the ages of 17 and 26. Mission Discovery, conceived by former NIC Bishop R. Sheldon Duecker, is an opportunity for youths and young adults from the North Central Jurisdiction to take part in a work/study program alongside youths from the area they are visiting.

Tom Stettner, member of the first Mission Discovery trip to Zimbabwe, is a team leader as an older young adult for this trip. He is from Des Plaines. Liliana Garcia, employed at the Greater West Town Academy in Chicago as a mentor, is the third member of the leadership team. She is a member of MARCHA, the denomination’s Hispanic caucus, and Humboldt Park UMC in Chicago.

Youths from six NCJ conferences went to Puerto Rico to discover mission with their counterparts from the Iglesia Metodista. Four youths from Illinois are participants, along with youths from Michigan, Iowa and Indiana. The Illinois youths are Rebecca Bradley, Mt. Prospect; Leah Dietterle, Frankfort; Cara Newhouse, Gurnee; and Christy Swanson, Des Plaines.

For more information about Mission Discovery, contact Beverly Nolte, Coordinator, North Central Jurisdiction Volunteers in Mission, 4112 S. E. 23rd Ct., Des Moines, Iowa 50320-2683, telephone: (515) 237 8545, or e-mail: bnmedical@aol.com.

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‘Kids are Peacemakers’

Retreat Sept. 20-21 at Wesley Woods

(June 14) Using a $5,000 grant from the United Methodist Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty, Resurrection UMC in Chicago is holding workshops and an overnight retreat for neighborhood children to teach them nonviolence and peaceful conflict resolution.

“Because of the level of violence in our community on Chicago’s west side and in Chicago, in general, we decided to try to do a series of workshops and a retreat for children,” said the Rev. Gene Blair, pastor of Resurrection UMC.

The kickoff workshop included a rap session with children and their adult chaperones about violence and how to resolve conflicts without violence.

“We want to try to help children begin to change themselves,” Blair said, “so they can change their community.”

In the first session of the program dealing with conflict resolution, most of the time was spent letting the children talk, said Rita Smith, member of Resurrection UMC and coordinator of the program. “We spent the day letting the kids talk about violence in their lives and how they deal with it. So many times we don’t give the children the opportunity to talk. They talked about different situations when they were trying to avoid fighting: even in the family, at school or in the community.”

The children also painted their hands and made hand prints on a banner that was hung in the church.

“We talked about hands,” Smith said, “about how each hand print is unique and how we can use our hands to love and hug and not to hit.”

Children in the workshop were from Resurrection UMC and also from other churches and organizations in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, including Mandell UMC, Clair-Christian UMC, New St. Peter’s, Girl Scouts of America, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Bethel New Life, Sweet Relief Missionary Baptist Church, Community Kids and other neighborhood churches.

“The idea is that violence against children and youths is sort of epidemic,” Blair said. “We need to begin with children to talk about other ways to resolve conflict and live at peace with each other.”

Most participants considered the first session a success.

“There was full participation by the kids,” Blair said. “They were excited when they left and they’re ready for the next part of the program.”

The next part of the program will be an overnight retreat for children Sept. 20-21 at Wesley Woods on Lake Geneva. The retreat for children ages 9-12 is open to children from across the Northern Illinois Conference. Called “Kids are Peacemakers,” the retreat will focus on nonviolence and conflict resolution. Activities will include Bible study, small group discussions, crafts, music and games.

“We want to bring children together from all around the Conference,” Smith said, “from diverse cultures, from different ethnic backgrounds and economic standings. We want to bring all these children together and talk about different aspects of being peacemakers.”

The retreat is jointly sponsored by Resurrection UMC and Children’s Ministries of the Northern Illinois Conference. Bus transportation to the retreat will be available. For more information, call the Rev. Diane Olson, (312) 236-4548.

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Conference Center task force to ask
for additional members, show plan

(June 7) During the Northern Illinois Annual Conference session now underway on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, the task force to develop a plan for a new Conference offices facility will report on its progress. The task force will also request that its membership be expanded.

Established in November 2000, the task force was given the job of developing a proposal for a new Conference Ministry Center to house Conference operations currently located at 8765 W. Higgins Rd. and the ministry of Resurrection UMC, which is now using the facility formerly owned by Clearing UMC in Chicago until its new church building is constructed.

The task force’s assignment also includes developing a recommendation for an adult retreat facility.

The Rev. Deborah Fisher, task force chair, said current plans are to propose that such a facility and a state-of-the-art youth camp be located at the Conference’s Camp Reynoldswood in Dixon.

The task force’s assignments included finding land for the Conference Ministry Center, determining a plan to finance construction of the new facility, developing a schematic design for the new center and scheduling implementation.

The task force has identified suitable property. A prototype structure has been designed. All of this information will be presented to Annual Conference. But there will be no request for approval to implement these plans this year.

“We’ve been working towards accomplishing our assignments,” said Fisher, “but recent information information has reached us about churches wanting to complete their Operation Commitment pledges and feeling that this is not the right year to take on an additional Conference financial commitment. So we’re seeking to expand the task force to give broader-based input and come back next year with a complete time line, design and proposal for funding.”

Fisher said the resolution that the task force will present to Annual Conference will ask for approval to add the following people to their group: two representatives each from the Cabinet, Outdoor and Retreat Ministries, Conference Council on Finance and Administration, Conference Council on Ministries, Conference Board of Trustees, Conference Council on Youth Ministries, and the task force on the Bishop’s Initiative on Children and Poverty.

The task force also wants one representative from each of the six districts, Marcy-Newberry Association, ChildServ, United Methodist Men and United Methodist Women.

The new members are expected to bring needed expertise in areas of financing, property development, campgrounds, retreat centers and children’s day care. Such expertise is needed, Fisher said, because the facility the task force is considering includes not only a church building for Resurrection UMC and Conference administrative offices, but also a 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week day care center and a component for economic development on the west side of Chicago.

A rendering of a possible building has been designed by Dan Saavedra, a task force member who is an architect, a member of Rockton UMC in the Rockford District and a member of the Conference Board of Trustees.

“This design is probably going to change,” Saavedra said. “This is a work in progress. It is not set in stone.” On Friday and Saturday during Annual Conference, Saavedra will be available to show the projected design for the building, answer questions and gather input and comments.

“We are anxious to hear from every member of Annual Conference,” Fisher said.

The task force is focusing on nine parcels of land (about one city block) at the corner of Sacramento and Lake streets in Chicago “that we consider a good site” for the new facility, according to Fisher.

“We’ve been in negotiation with the city of Chicago to try to get the parcels donated to us,” Fisher said. We will not move on that land, however, until the expanded task force has an opportunity to discuss it and the Annual Conference takes a vote in June 2003.”

Fisher said she expects the task force to present an action plan to Annual Conference in June 2003. “It has been slightly less than two years since this was first presented at district gatherings,” she said. “It feels like it’s been a long time, but a project of this magnitude, by its very nature, moves slowly.”

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ORM prepares for summer invasion

By Bruce Nelson, Executive Director, Outdoor and Retreat Ministries

(June 7) Outdoor and Retreat Ministries (ORM) invites you to take a fresh look at Christian camping in the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC) today.

ORM programs offer all the activities you expect, including hiking, canoeing, crafts, archery, Bible study, swimming, sports, singing, cookouts and meaningful outdoor worship, often around the glow of a campfire. Special camp programs also offer horseback riding, sailing, fine and performing arts, fishing, wilderness canoeing, cardboard boat racing, and campouts.

Outdoor and Retreat Ministries manages three campsites in three states, including nearly 50 buildings spread over 200 acres.

These sites are used year-round, but they get invaded during the summer camping season, which this year began June 2 and runs through August 10. Forty-six camping programs will serve children, youths, adults and families.

Based on early registrations, there will be about 900 campers from the NIC enjoying a Christian camp program this summer.

Most of the camp programs offered through ORM this summer will explore the theme “Turn Around to Follow Jesus.” Campers will “travel” through the Bible to tag along with Jacob on his return home to meet Esau, learn about Paul on the road to Damascus, meet Jesus on a walk to Emmaus, share a cool drink with Jesus from a well in Samaria, watch as 10 lepers are healed, and help out a neighbor in trouble on the road. Each trip will teach campers to turn around to the joy of the Lord.

Did you know that the American Camping Association accredits ORM sites and programs? That means that your camps are meeting and in many cases exceeding industry standards for safety and quality.

Your camps are growing and you can help. You can donate to camper scholarships through Advance Specials through your local church or you can volunteer your time. Two new tree houses will be built with the help of volunteers at Reynoldswood this year and there are always small upkeep jobs to be done. ORM has only 12 year-round employees and so much of the work that is done on the sites comes from volunteers.

Do you know or have you been a camper in one of the ORM programs? Have you ever participated in retreats at the sites, volunteered your time, donated to camper scholarships, or are you just discovering the ministries offered through your Conference camps? Outdoor and Retreat Ministries wants to help serve your ministry needs. Come to a special place where the teachings of Jesus Christ have the opportunity to come to life and where memories are made that last a lifetime.

For further information about Outdoor and Retreat Ministries visit our web site: www.niccamp.org, or phone (800) NIC-CAMP.

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King’s Kloset in Erie celebrates 4th anniversary

(June 7) The King’s Kloset, a community store started by Erie UMC and inspired by a similar enterprise at Red Bird Mission in southeast Kentucky, recently celebrated its fourth anniversary.

The Kloset started with a grant from Erie UMC. Now there are seven churches supporting the venture, including Fenton UMC, and it is independent, receiving its own non-profit designation.

The Kloset was started as the inspiration of Pat and Marshall Ross, who shared their idea for an emergency help program for the area with the Rev. Tony Hawkins, Erie UMCpastor. Hawkins’ enthusiasm for the project led to the grant from the church.

The Rosses now serve on the board of directors of The King’s Kloset, and their daughter, Laura Shepherd, is director of operations.

The Kloset, which contains a variety of items for resale, such as clothing and furniture, depends on a staff of volunteers who come weekly to help sort clothes and do other jobs to keep the operation running.

Besides supporting the local community, the Kloset now delivers goods to Chicago once a month as part of the DeKalb District’s Food for Sharing program, and helps four missions in the Quad Cities and the Victory Center in Clinton. The Kloset also gives money for mission trips and sent donations of money to Belize in Central America.

The Kloset accepts toys year-round. Last Christmas, senior citizens spent two days wrapping them as gifts that were distributed to 80 children. In addition, gift baskets were handed out to the children’s families.

The Kloset has grown so much because most of the surrounding communities are supporting it that the board of directors is seeking a larger building. The present location has been provided rent free, as has a furniture storage facility, but success has forced them to consider moving.

For more information about the King’s Kloset, call Pat and Marshall Ross at (309) 659-2592.

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Wesley helping to plan ‘Let’s Feed Our Children’

(June 7) Wesley UMC, 2200 16th Ave., Sterling, is among the planners of a project that challenges Sauk Valley area churches to implement a “Let’s Feed Our Children” summer sack lunch program.

The Rev. Joseph Snider of Wesley UMC was among the area pastors and church represen- tatives who participated in the first committee meeting along with the United Way of Sterling-Rock Falls and the Whiteside County Health Dept. The committee is hoping to recruit participants and financial support from churches in the Rock Falls and Sterling area.

Goal of the program is to make and distribute 15,000 sack lunches to Rock Falls and Sterling hungry children.

“There is something very valuable in the title we’ve chosen for the program,” Snider said, “that reinforces the sense of unity and commonality of this endeavor.”

According to the committee, one in three children in the Sauk Valley lives home with an income at or below the poverty level. Approximately 2,200 children have signed up for free or reduced-cost lunches at area schools during the school term.

“Let’s Feed Our Children” hopes to feed as many as 500 children for 30 days this summer: three days a week for 10 weeks.

Snider estimated that 10 sack lunches cost about $11. “We’re looking at need of $15,000 to $20,000,” he said, “as a ballpark figure to feed our children this summer.”

Donations can be sent to “Let’s Feed Our Children,” P.O. Box 806, Sterling, IL 61081. volunteers are sought to distribute the lunches to six permanent sites each week. For more information about the program, contact Snider at (815) 625-1968.

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