Seniors from St. Charles' Brighton Gardens volunteer at Northern Illinois Food Bank

To create a picture in your mind that the senior citizens living at Brighton Gardens of St. Charles basically eat, sleep and watch TV all day would be a terribly inaccurate portrayal.

Sure, the health of some of our elderly would be cause for a sedentary lifestyle, but some Brighton residents are carrying on with the passions in their life - volunteering to help others.

The Northern Illinois Food Bank is the local recipient of some Brighton residents' energy and desire to help others.

Before coming to live at Brighton, a Sunrise Senior Living facility on Dunhman Road, Betty Bendz learned much about being a volunteer at her church and with the Girl Scouts.

But her desire to help others has deep roots, starting from when she was a young girl and saw her mother feed a hungry stranger.

"It's nice to know someone, especially children, won't be going hungry," Bendz said of her time at the food bank. "If you are able to help someone, you do it."

Dennis Riddle's desire to help at the food bank comes from the same foundation. He, too, watched his parents give food away from their farm to strangers during the Great Depression.

He knows what it does for him mentally to feed others.

"It feels good to help somebody else and feel useful," he said. "If you're helping people, then you're doing your job."

Helping at the food bank brings a slightly different feel of fulfillment to Diana Carter, who spent many hours in her youth marching for civil rights and joining the Freedom Riders in Mississippi.

She said much of her inspiration comes from a Mother Teresa quote: "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."

Of all of these wonderful folks at Brighton, Dick Eckert can say he comes to the food bank with plenty of experience.

He and his wife Ann established a food pantry in Doniphan, Missouri, in 1973, one that he estimates still provides for 1,000 local families.

He continues to support that operation, in addition to helping at the Northern Illinois Food Bank, by selling raffle tickets for its fundraisers.

Mostly, Eckert feels others should experience the joys of being a volunteer.

"It enriches your own life and it makes a person feel better about one's self," said Eckert, who also raises money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. "It is very rewarding."

Does that sound like older folks just sitting around waiting for the next meal or TV show?

The key to fun:

"He's Just a Little Boy," the sign on a baseball field backstop at Engstrom Park in Batavia states.

The summer baseball seasons have wound down and the kids are back in school, but their sports activities have not stopped. The poem on this sign and its underlying message could be posted at any venue and apply to any sport in which kids - even high school athletes - simply want to have fun, learn teamwork and good sportsmanship.

The adults on the sidelines and in the stands have always carried the most weight in determining exactly how much fun the kids actually will have.

The sign's poem creates a scenario in which a youngster is at bat with a game on the line, and strikes out. There are boos and hisses from some in the crowd. And the kid is devastated.

Yes, this sort of thing happens. Fun, huh?

As the message concludes: "Keep this in mind when you hear someone forget, he is just a little boy and not a man yet."

Wait on that toast:

Yes, you generally have to wait a bit to be seated for breakfast on the weekends at the Buttermilk restaurant in downtown Geneva, but they make it quite convenient with a link on your phone so you can keep an eye on how long your wait is.

And the wait is always worth it.

How much so? Well, the menu is full of great choices, but last week I wiped out a plate of Stuffed Banana Bourbon, which was a stack of French toast layered with Bourbon banana patisserie cream, topped with foster sauce, bananas, hickory bacon and toasted pecans.

Yes, I took that right off the menu, and I wouldn't know what a patisserie cream was if one of the Three Stooges hit me in the kisser with a pie full of it.

But I now know this: It was delicious.

A good update:

Many friends and readers have asked how my treatments for bladder cancer have been going, and I have some good news to share.

The last checkup went well, with the doctor giving me an "all clean" report. But he wanted me to do some more chemo "maintenance" treatments.

I had gone in for one of those a couple of months ago, and the doc gave me a pleasant surprise in saying he decided I didn't need them at that time.

So they actually start tomorrow instead, which made it far easier to spend some good summer time at local festivals, concerts, ballgames, golf outings and parties.

You know, summer fun.

dheun@sbcglobal.net