Carpentersville women scoop up party fun for their neighborhood

Carpentersville residents Melissa Bodzioch and Erika Kyle won the ultimate summer prize recently. The pair won enough ice cream to feed 200 of their neighbors thanks to Edy's Slow-Churned Ice Cream Neighborhood Salute.

Edy's supplied 24 1.75-quart tubs of ice cream.

To win, each submitted a short paragraph explaining why their neighborhood--the Silverstone Lake subdivision on Carpentersville's east side-- deserved an ice cream block party.

About 50 people took part in last Saturday's festivities, which also turned into the neighborhood's fourth annual block party. There were grills, games -- and plenty of ice cream.

"We told everyone to bring meat to grill, a dish to pass, an ice cream topping, chairs to sit in and whatever they wanted to drink," Melissa said. "We hung out in one of the neighbor's backyards and had a great time."

Melissa said she had no expectations about winning, and said the prize was priceless.

"We got to meet a few new neighbors we hadn't met yet which, was really fun," said Melissa, whose favorite flavor is chocolate.

"The neighbors we knew we got to catch up with, which was really nice."

And the leftovers were distributed among residents, co-workers and friends.

Melissa and Erika have freezers stocked for the rest of the summer, too.

Melissa is not new to winning competitions. The 30-year-old Carpentersville resident won second place in a Weight Watchers contest after losing 42 pounds in 18 months.

Tip o' the hat: While Carpentersville village officials wrangled over the makeup of their finance panel, Lake in the Hills was honored earlier this month with the federal government's highest award for governmental budgeting.

Lake in the Hills was presented with a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. The award recognized the village's annual budget for the fiscal year beginning Jan. 1 this year.

The 2007 award makes Lake in the Hills an eight-time recipient.

In order to receive this award, a governmental unit must publish a budget document that meets program criteria including as a policy document, an operations guide, a financial plan, and a communications device.

The award was presented to Village Administrator Gerald Sagona.