Can't visit the library? Let the library visit you

If ever there were a "winter of our discontent," this would be one for Bernice Loehr of St. Charles.

Her husband has had vertigo all winter and early spring, so they don't get out much, if at all. He can't drive a car now, and she doesn't drive a car, period.

This has meant one of their favorite things - reading books from the library - was on hold. She wasn't sure what to do, at least until she called and was told about the St. Charles Public Library Outreach Program.

The program has been in place for 45 years and essentially does what the title says - brings the library out to the community.

This comes in handy for those who can't get around.

"I was told I could give them a list of books and they would deliver them," Loehr said. "The program director, David Kelsey, has been wonderful.

"He brings the books and then comes and picks them up, so this program has been a lifesaver for us during this long winter," Loehr said of the unpleasant first few weeks of our fake spring.

It should remind all of us that our area libraries strive to serve. These programs are available under different names in Geneva, Batavia and Elburn, where it is called Traveling Librarians.

"We bring anything in the library to a patron's home," said Kelsey, the outreach services librarian in St. Charles. "We have more than 200 library patrons we visit each month and have nine senior facilities and three home-care facilities we visit as well."

In addition, there are about 15 to 20 homebound library patrons the program serves.

While at senior facilities, the library puts on about 25 programs a month. "We do memory programs, reading programs and singalongs," Kelsey said.

Dana Hintz, Lynda Spraner and Christine Steck serve as assistants for the Outreach Program.

It's plain to see that any way it can, the libraries want to expand their reach in the community.

And when it's a long winter on top of a health issue, "outreach" becomes a very friendly word.

Went overboard on books:

On the topic of books, is it possible to overdo it at a library used book sale? I felt that way a few years ago when leaving with a huge bag full of books.

I read about three on my train rides to work at that time, and then realized there were probably 10 more that would take me quite some time to get through.

Some people surely could grab that many used books and find it much easier to get through them.

You'll have a chance to find out when the St. Charles Public Library hosts the annual Spring Used Book Sale from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday in the Huntley Meeting Room.

These types of sales cover all of the bases now - hardcovers, paperbacks, CDs, DVDs and other materials. On Sunday, shoppers can buy a bag of books for $10.

I'm thinking that's what happened to me.

An office to honor:

What does it take to be named owners of the best Re/Max office in Northern Illinois? It's got to be the number of home sales generated out of your office, right?

"The award is not so much about sales," said Hank Erwin, owner of Re/Max Excels office at 1772 Randall Road in Geneva. "It has more to do with the support from the 40 agents we have here working for us."

Those agents wrote essays about how they enjoy working at this particular office, and it netted Erwin and his business partner, Paulette Peiffer, the Re/Max Northern Illinois Broker/Owners of the Year honor.

It's the first time Erwin has earned the prize since 2002, when he and then-partner Chris Hansen earned the honor. The Geneva office earned the honor from among 117 offices in this part of the state.

Erwin has been in real estate for 38 years, and has been at Re/Max since 1981. He bought the local franchise in 1999, while Peiffer, a longtime operations manager, bought into the business a year ago.

Erwin moved his entire staff from a St. Charles office into the Geneva location in 2009 to cut expenses and "keep our head above water" during the worst years of the recession.

So, these folks would have to know what the current residential housing market is like, right?

"Anything above $400,000 is not moving that fast, though it is starting to pick up and move in the right direction," Erwin said. "But the lower-priced homes, it's a seller's market for those $350,000 or below."

It's not a clear-cut case in which a line is drawn in the sand on a certain price, so the fast moving homes can edge toward $400,000 as well, Erwin added.

To market, to freeze:

You could count the number of vendors on one hand at last week's Geneva French Market opening weekend in bitter cold temperatures. Actually, on one finger.

In what is usually a sign that spring has arrived in downtown Geneva, only one vendor had a table of vegetables and fruit on display.

And the fellow behind the table sure looked lonely.

I wasn't in need of anything he was selling, otherwise I was tempted to get out of my warm car and just go buy anything to reward him for the effort it took to set up shop in the wind and snow.

Hopefully, things will be much more sane with Mother Nature this Sunday when the market will redo its official season kickoff.

dheun@sbcglobal.net