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14 | January 9, 2020 | the new lenox patriot news newlenoxpatriotdaily.com FROM THE MOKENA MESSENGER Girl Scouts seek creative, colorful future Choosing shades of blue, purple and pink, 5-year-old Cole Nappo, of Mokena, enjoyed a morning of painting a sweet cupcake on a canvas while learning more about Girl Scouts. “I used my favorite colors,” she said, sharing her plans to hang her colorful new artwork in her bedroom. Held Dec. 28 at Mokena Community Public Library District, the Girl Scouts recruiting event garnered the interest of several area families. The experience was geared toward reaching out to girls in kindergarten and first grade. “It’s our first time doing canvas painting as a recruitment event,” said Lynn Lode, treasurer and event coordinator for the Mokena Girl Scouts, and a 20-year volunteer with the organization. “We learned about the idea from a troop who did this in Merrillville, [Indiana].” For Lincoln-Way-area girls, there are plenty of events in which to participate with their local Girl Scouts. “We have a motherdaughter PJ party coming up in January, a tubing trip to Wilmot Mountain in February and, of course, [we started] selling our famous cookies on Jan. 1, which teaches the girls about entrepreneurship and business, and also raises the funds to do the things we do,” said Jean Lachat, service unit manager for the Mokena Girl Scouts, who has volunteered for 15 years. Reporting by Beth Krooswyk, Freelance Reporter. For more, visit MokenaMes sengerDaily.com. FROM THE LOCKPORT LEGEND Young, Goodings Grove among schools to participate in The Crayon Initiative As part of a collaboration with the Homer Glen Junior Woman’s Club, Young School and Goodings Grove School are among local schools that have started collecting used and broken crayons for The Crayon Initiative. Crayons are melted and pressed into new wax to give to children’s hospitals around the country, and help the environment by keeping harmful materials out of landfills. “We started rolling out the program in September,” said Melissa Jelenik, chairwoman of the Woman’s Club’s Educational Committee. “The schools that have responded have already shown great interest.” Since this is the first time the Woman’s Club has implemented the program, Jelenik is unsure of how many crayons will be collected, but she is hopeful the program will make an impact on the children who receive them. “I’m hoping to get several pounds of crayons rounded up,” Jelenik said. “We plan on finally collecting all of them in May from the schools.” The Crayon Initiative works with dozens of partner hospitals across visit us online at newlenoxpatriotdaily.com the United States, along with several in Illinois. “I like that they had multiple different ways to get involved in the program,” Jelenik said. “They make it very easy to [serve] them, with things like discounted shipping for charities.” Estimates from the Initiative claim that one 20-pound box of crayons yields enough to give 125 children an eight-pack of crayons to brighten their hospital stays. Young School has participated in the initiative since the beginning of the school year and has a box set up in the main office. Reporting by Derek Swanson, Editorial Intern. For more, visit LockportLegend Daily.com. FROM THE ORLAND PARK PRAIRIE Youth creativity soars during library’s first paper plane contest On Dec. 26, children tried their paper airplanemaking skills at the Orland Park Public Library as part of the first Paper Plane Championship Challenge. Children’s librarian Alex Pappas came up with the idea and said the rules of the competition were simple. “I encourage you to make a lot,” Pappas said to the 10 children who assembled for the competition. Children won based on design, distance and art, among other categories, and every child left with candy and a book. The program lasted the better part of an hour that afternoon. While the library provided how-to books for making effective paper airplanes, Pappas said the contest was less about technical proficiency than having fun. Even so, he offered some suggestions to would-be paper plane pilots. “If you’re throwing a paper plane and you’re throwing it as hard as you can, it’ll probably go straight into the ground,” Papppas told the children. He urged them to throw their creations “nice and gentle.” Pappas said he arrived at the idea of a plane contest because Wright Brothers Day was Dec. 17. The federally recognized observation marks the day when the first heavierthan-air craft successfully launched in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Pappas explained that paper aircraft are a familiar way to introduce youths into design. “I think they’re a good teaching tool,” he said. “I don’t know how often you’ll see paper planes in schools these days, but they’re fun to show off and throw.” Reporting by Jesse Wright, Freelance Reporter. For more, visit OPPrairieDaily. com. FROM THE FRANKFORT STATION Children ring in 2020 at New Year’s Countdown The Frankfort Park District’s New Year’s Countdown, which culminated at noon on New Year’s Eve with a balloon drop, gave Frankfort’s youngest residents a chance to share in the end-of-year celebrations. The young crowd was happy to spend the morning of Dec. 31 participating in New Year’s-themed activities at the Founders Community Center. “We’re ending 2019 with a countdown to the New Year,” said Cali DeBella, special events coordinator for the Frankfort Park District. “These kids are having fun coloring, [playing] little games and more. If they can’t celebrate at midnight, they’re celebrating here at noon.” To make the event run smoothly, teen volunteers from the Lincoln-Way schools helped the young visitors have fun. One of the girls, Lincoln-Way East junior Kayleigh Hanlon, played Jenga with the children. “I had nothing else to do today, so I thought I would come out and help the kids and earn some service hours,” Hanlon said. The Frankfort teen said she has volunteered five other times at the Frankfort Park District. “These kids are so funny,” Hanlon said. “I really enjoy doing this.” As noon approached, DeBella and the teen volunteers ushered the children to a room filled with party decorations. Each child was presented with a noisemaker and colored glasses with 2020 on them. The children stood underneath a bag of balloons, stretching their hands out toward the ceiling as the countdown began. Reporting by Mary Compton, Freelance Reporter. For more, visit FrankfortStation Daily.com. FROM THE HOMER HORIZON Moms, their children celebrate New Year with Stroller Strides workout The New Year hit at 11 a.m. for mothers and their children working out during a Stroller Strides workout session held Dec. 31 at MPX Elite Fitness in Homer Glen. Mothers brought their young children in strollers and completed a workout that incorporated their children every step of the way. They did jump squats during which they would tickle their children when popping up, and pushed their strollers as they jogged around the gym before celebrating the New Year 13 hours before midnight. Michelle Marinello, owner of a local franchise of Fit 4 Mom that produces the Stroller Strides workout, said it can be difficult for parents of young children to stay up until midnight, so the idea of having the ball drop at 11 a.m. is “genius.” “Their kids still get to be a part of the whole New Year’s Eve concept and be exposed to the fun that’s associated with the New Year,” Marinello said. “But now, the moms can go home and get a good night’s sleep. “That’s the whole concept; we want kids to be a part of things and tie them in to everything.” The new decade was made official at 11 a.m. when the adults gathered balloons into a parachute and let them rain down over the children there. Kelly Dennis, while resting with her 4-yearold daughter Madelyn, said she regularly attends the local Fit 4 Mom workouts because she likes the community. “All the moms are awesome,” Dennis said. Reporting by Benjamin Conboy, Assistant Editor. For more, visit HomerHorizon Daily.com.
newlenoxpatriotdaily.com sound off the new lenox patriot | January 9, 2020 | 15 Social snapshot Top Web Stories From NewLenoxPatriotDaily.com as of Monday, Jan. 6 1. Year in Review 2019: Providence students shine in and out of classroom with ‘Providence Advantage’ 2. Year in Review 2019: LW West celebrates ‘A Decade of Orange’ 3. Year in Review 2019: New Lenox Park District looks back on celebrating 50- year anniversary 4. News You Viewed: Most read stories in 2019 from NewLenoxPatriotDaily.com 5. Year in Review 2019: <strong>NL</strong>FPD gets new equipment, continues strong community involvement in 2019 Become a member: NewLenoxPatriot.com/plus Our 4th - 8th graders had some winter break fun at our Just for Tweens Lego Club on Friday. Don’t miss our next one on Fri., Jan. 24 @ 4:30 pm. Register today! https://newlenox.librarymarket.com/justtweens-lego-club-6 The New Lenox Public Library posted this on Dec. 30 Like The New Lenox Patriot: facebook.com/ TheNewLenoxPatriot @LWWestWarriors tweeted this Dec. 31 Follow The New Lenox Patriot: @The<strong>NL</strong>Patriot From the Editor How do you hold yourself to your New Year’s resolution? Sean Hastings sean@newlenoxpatriot.com I set a New Year’s resolution nearly every year and by the end of the year, I forget what it was. For 2019, it was probably get in the gym more, or eat healthier. I have no clue. Like most, I find the resolution somewhat easy to stick to that first month or so. We’re all hyped up about the new year, our resolutions are still fresh in our minds and we’re excited about them. But come the middle of February, our busy lives sometimes tend to get in the way of some of our resolutions. We may slip up one day one week, then a couple the next, and before we know it, we’re back to our old habits. The big part, at least for me, is that we lose sight of why we chose that goal in the first place. I for one do not hold myself accountable to be in the gym more times each week. I tell myself I’m too busy or too tired, and weeks go by before I’m back sometimes. I have time. I just tell myself I don’t. Just like Kurt Schulte, a Reclaim Fitness trainer, said in the story on Page 7, we tell ourselves we want to have these goals, but have no plan to reach them. They’re just loose goals. I kept that same goal for 2020. Except now I’m trying to find a way to get there. Sometimes after work, I go straight home thinking I’ll get ready to go back. It’s comical, because I never do. Now, I pack a bag every morning and as I drive home, it stares me in the face, almost guilting me into going. I tell myself it’s one hour better spent there than on the couch. I won’t share my personal goals, but I do have them in mind and I’m taking Schulte’s advice and going to stick to it. Why do you want to go to the gym more? When do you hope to reach your goal? That goes for anything. If you want to eat healthier and cut sweets out of your CONTACT diet, how are you going to make it happen? Will you plan your meals each day? What will you eat instead of that bowl of ice cream? Instead of ordering that burger when you go out to eat, what will you order? A New Year’s resolution could be something as simple as being more organized. What was the problem and why is that your resolution? Will you buy a planner? Will you use the calendar on the phone that you’re always on? We have plenty of ways to hold ourselves accountable to stick to our New Year’s resolutions, but we set these goals with no plan on how to reach them. We need to give ourselves a shot at completing these goals; if we don’t, we’re just saying nonsense. Sound Off Policy Editorials and columns are the opinions of the author. Pieces from 22nd Century Media are the thoughts of the company as a whole. The New Lenox Patriot encourages readers to write letters to Sound Off. All letters must be signed, and names and hometowns will be published. We also ask that writers include their address and phone number for verification, not publication. Letters should be limited to 400 words. The New Lenox Patriot reserves the right to edit letters. Letters become property of The New Lenox Patriot. Letters that are published do not reflect the thoughts and views of The New Lenox Patriot. Letters can be mailed to: The New Lenox Patriot, 11516 West 183rd Street, Unit SW Office Condo #3, Orland Park, Illinois, 60467. Fax letters to (708) 326-9179 or e-mail to sean@newlenoxpatriot.com. www.newlenoxpatriot.com. ‘Tis the season to advertise in The New Lenox Patriot LORA HEALY 708.326.9170 ext. 31 l.healy@22ndcenturymedia.com ®
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