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Where you can eat for free this month in the Tri-Cities

It's hard to believe so many volunteers have spent much of the past seven years or so organizing and hosting free dinners for community members.

Residents do a lot of great things in our towns to make them the types of places of which we can really be proud. But the concept of these free meals, borne out of the recession and staying in place as community gathering events, probably rates as one of the kindest gestures we can share with each other.

If you mark your calendar, it's possible to get a few free meals from area churches and organizations on a monthly basis.

This has been true for quite a few years, but it dawned on me again when the Elburn Lions Club sent along a note to say it offers a free spaghetti dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of every month at Lions Park.

You can add the third Tuesday of each month for the Geneva United Methodist Church's community supper. This has been a favorite in our household since I began taking my mother-in-law regularly in her final years. It was, without a doubt, the highlight of her month.

And then you can add the Two Guys and Free Spaghetti dinners that unfold on the fourth Sunday of the month at St. Charles Episcopal Church.

Bethany Lutheran Church in Batavia hosts the Last Friday Community Supper from 5 to 7 p.m. monthly, while the Fox Valley Presbyterian Church on the east side of Geneva offers a Third Friday Supper from 5 to 7 p.m.

All of these events are worth checking out to share meals with others, enjoy an inexpensive night out with the family or get elderly parents out who might otherwise be dealing with loneliness.

Obviously, it helps to drop a donation off during your meal, but here's a thought that worked well for us. When my mother-in-law passed away, we asked for contributions to be sent to the community supper, and several of her friends chose to do that.

Practices his form:

A funny note from reader Mark Waldoch after he read my recent column item about the underground bowling alleys in this area more than 60 years ago:

"I've had an office on the lower level of 324 W. State in Geneva for almost 15 years. I cannot tell you how many times I have walked down the narrow hallway between the two sides of offices and practiced my bowling form," Waldoch said.

"Now I know why - ghosts of leagues more than a half century ago!"

Bring my custard:

If I were granted one wish by whoever can grant wishes these days, would it be a waste to use it on this?

I wish the old Gilles custard stand in the early 1990s located in the area between the gas station at Randall and Main Street and the Costco gas station along Randall would somehow surface again in a new place.

Gilles had a treat called "Those Things," which were essentially a block of delicious custard and graham cracker crust covered in an outstanding chocolate coating.

Many folks surely remember Gilles, or at least the fact that it opened up in the spot where Dog 'n Suds did business for so many years.

Hey, there's another place I didn't mind. A root beer from Dog 'n Suds always went down quite smoothly on a hot summer day.

A good marshal:

Not only is he a good choice to be grand marshal of the St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday in St. Charles because of all he has done for the downtown, but also there is no denying Arcada frontman Ron Onesti likes a good party.

After all, how many great events has this guy hosted at the Arcada in the past seven or eight years? Plus, he's brought the old Club Arcada concept back to life.

Mostly, he's done the city a great service by saving its treasured theater, so this fellow certainly deserves to be at the head of a downtown parade.

dheun@sbcglobal.net

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