MM_120618

16 | December 6, 2018 | The Mokena Messenger news
mokenamessenger.com
FROM THE NEW LENOX PATRIOT
NL native plans second cross
country ride to benefit veterans
New Lenox native Tracy Sefcik
completed her cross-country bike
trip from California to Florida earlier
this year and is already planning
her next one.
“Well, you know, I can’t just do
this once; I’ve got to do it again,
don’t I?” Sefcik said. “I guess it’s
my calling.”
During her first ride for charity,
Sefcik raised more than $30,000
for the Gary Sinise Foundation in
support of veterans. Her next endeavour
is to raise $50,000 for a
charity closer to home called the
Oscar Mike Foundation.
While the ride itself is still
roughly two-and-a-half years down
the road, Sefcik said it is important
that she starts fundraising now, so
she can meet her goal.
The fundraiser officially started
Nov. 7 on her website, www.crosscountrycycle4vets.com.
The day
holds special meaning for Sefcik,
a Navy veteran, because it is the
anniversary of the day her uncle’s
plane went down in Korea many
years ago and he was determined
to be Missing In Action.
The Oscar Mike Foundation is
located in Rockford but serves veterans
around the country through
its programs, which are aimed at
getting wounded and disabled veterans
active again through a variety
of activities, including exercise,
flight lessons, shooting practice,
kayaking, paddleboarding, fishing,
horseback riding and skydiving.
Participants are flown out to
spend a week at the foundation’s
compound, where Sefcik said the
goal is to give them a new lease on
life and a positive outlook for the
future despite their limitations and
injuries.
Reporting by Amanda Villiger,
Assistant Editor. For more, visit
NewLenoxPatriot.com.
FROM THE TINLEY JUNCTION
Andrew senior wrestler fueled by
tough loss
Andrew senior wrestler Luc
Valdez suffered last year, losing
a 1-point sectional decision in a
match that would have sent him
downstate to compete in the Class
3A individual state finals.
Worse yet, it was a 1-point decision
loss to Marmion’s Michael
Jaffe, who went on to place fourth
in Illinois at 113 pounds.
Valdez could have put the pain of
that loss behind him and moved on,
but the best wrestlers don not move
on easily. What they do is use that
pain as motivation, like a shovelful
of coal thrown into a blast furnace.
“That loss motivates me every
single day,” Valdez said. “I look
at it and think about what I should
have done different, and I want
to do everything right this year to
make sure I don’t have that feeling
again.”
Three additional Andrew wrestlers
came within one win of
advancing downstate last year,
including varsity returnees J.P.
Migawa and Ameer Aqel. Thunderbolts
coach Mike Pila knows
that none of them are about to let
those losses go.
“That sour taste is something
that doesn’t go away,” Pila said.
“They think about it when they’re
summer wrestling, lifting, in the
preseason, in the practice room —
it’s always there in the back of their
minds.”
In his fourth season as a varsity
wrestler, Valdez entered his senior
year with more than 100 wins to
his name. He won 29 matches as a
freshman, 35 as a sophomore and
37 matches last year.
Reporting by Gary Larsen,
Freelance Reporter. For more, visit
TinleyJunction.com.
FROM THE FRANKFORT STATION
Frankfort Falcons win Super Bowl
championships
The Frankfort Falcons varsity
and junior varsity teams capped
successful 2018 seasons by clinching
River Valley Super Bowl championship
Nov. 11 at the ATI Field at
Joliet Memorial Stadium.
The No. 2-seeded varsity team
defeated the No. 1 Morris Warriors
20-6 in the championship game,
while the No. 1- ranked junior varsity
team secured a 25-6 title victory
over the No. 3 Frankfort Square
Wildcats.
Falcons varsity head coach Matthew
Straight attributed the team’s
success this season to his players’
sense of brotherhood and their ability
to focus on “the momentum of
the season itself.”
“What was great was that we had
some returning varsity players, as
well as a JV team that was in the
Super Bowl last year that was able
to contribute,” he added.
After finishing the regular season
with a 7-1 record, the varsity team
entered the first round of the playoffs
with a bye and went on to shut
out the Tinley Park Bulldogs 28-0
on Oct. 28. In the Nov. 4 semifinal
game, the team clinched a second
postseason shutout, defeating the
Homer Stallions 31-0.
Straight said he anticipated the
majority of the players would continue
their football careers at Lincoln-Way
East High School.
“We expect great things from
them at the freshmen level next
year,” he said. “[Lincoln-Way East
football Coach Rob Zvonar] has
been a big part of the organization,
and his kids are coming up through
the Falcons, as well.”
Reporting by Nuria Mathog, Editor.
For more, visit FrankfortStation.com.
FROM THE HOMER HORIZON
Homer woman works with
nonprofit to provide solar lights
for poverty-stricken areas
Beth Sadler, 25, of Homer Glen,
is currently enrolled at Adler University
in Chicago, working on her
master’s degree in counseling with
art therapy. And as part of her global
outreach practicum, she needed
to find an organization working to
help people in need.
Given that broad guideline, she
went on Google and swiftly found
a path illuminated for her.
Sadler came upon the website
for Watts of Love, a nonprofit organization
that provides clean and
renewable light sources to families
living in cases of extreme poverty
without access to electricity in
more than 30 countries, she said.
“[The Watts of Love] website
seemed so welcoming and friendly,
the layout modern, not sugarcoating
anything,” Sadler recalled. “People
really benefit [from the lights]. The
photos it has are incredible — of
the smiles on these kids’ faces, the
mothers in tears [because] kids can
now go to school, study at night
and have a light source.”
The Go Dark, Give Light campaign
started by Watts of Love
invites organizations across the
country to voluntarily “go dark”
and give up their cellphones and
social media for an agreed upon
period of time while raising funds
from friends and family for the solar
lights, according to Sadler. The
nonprofit then provides funds globally
to “give light” to those who
need it most.
Materials needed to launch and
run a Go Dark, Give Light campaign
are at www.wattsoflove.org/
godarkgivelight.
Reporting by Thomas Czaja, Editor.
For more, visit HomerHorizon.com.
FROM THE LOCKPORT LEGEND
Lockport Woman’s Club ramping up
local work
Jane Passaglia, the president
of the Lockport Woman’s Club,
knows what most people think of
when they hear about a woman’s
club.
She thought the same thing when
she was asked to join years ago.
“I had the same stereotype that
anyone … would have about women’s
club, that it’s a ladies who
lunch club, and that it’s not that
well adapted to the modem woman,
with her schedule and life,”
Passaglia said. “But I have to say,
I owe a lot to the Woman’s Club of
Lockport.”
Now, as president of the club,
Passaglia hopes other area women
come to discover the same things
she has learned from the it.
Passaglia moved to Lockport
nine years ago to be closer to her
daughter, and when she moved, she
wanted to get involved in her new
community.
The then-president of the Lockport
Woman’s Club reached out to
her and asked her to get involved
but, of course, Passaglia assumed
the woman’s club would be less
active and more social. Then, Passaglia
looked into the it and discovered
she was wrong.
In the six months since she has
been at the helm, Passaglia said she
has turned the club’s focus toward
the community.
“I think we can do more in the
community together,” she said.
Reporting by Jesse Wright,
Freelance Reporter. For more, visit
LockportLegend.com.
FROM THE ORLAND PARK PRAIRIE
Santa, shopping and sparkling
lights shine bright at Holiday Fest
& Tree Lighting
Sleigh bells were jingling, voices
were singing and twinkling lights
adorned the tree outside of Village
Hall.
The Village of Orland Park
welcomed in the season Nov. 25
with its annual Holiday Festival
& Tree Lighting Ceremony, held
from 4:30-7:30 p.m. at the Civic
Center. Along with witnessing Village
Center transform into a winter
wonderland, attendees were able to
enjoy entertainment, crafts, visits
with Santa Claus and much more.
The winter weather caused event
organizers to move select outdoor
elements indoors, including the
Holiday Market, which opened at
3:30 p.m., while the food trucks,
Jingle Johns (lighted, singing portable
toilets), live reindeer visits
and the ice-sculpture demonstration
— the last of which was new
this year — offered exterior fun for
families.
“Tonight, we have a great cross
section of families here, because
we have things outdoors and our
vendors inside,” explained Nancy
Flores, Orland Park’s director of
recreation. “The tree lighting puts
everyone in the Christmas spirit.
We have food trucks outside, and
it’s a cool event that brings families
together.”
Mayor Keith Pekau welcomed
Santa Claus back to Orland Park at
the start of the festivities. The pair
then invited all of the children in
attendance to join them in leading
the countdown to the tree lighting,
which culminated with the illumination
of all of the holiday features
displayed on the Village Center
lawn.
Reporting by Laurie Fanelli,
Freelance Reporter. For more, visit
OPPrairie.com.