Four decades of service to the community

Those who have been around TriCity Family Services since its inception understand how the agency has grown from a coffeehouse for teens in 1967 to a broad range of essential services in the community.

The agency, at 1120 Randall Court in Geneva, will have an open house from 3 to 7 p.m. Sept. 14 to celebrate 40 years of steering people on a right path and helping them cope with or avoid some of life's tougher obstacles.

TriCity Family Services touches virtually all aspects of the community with its mental health services for area businesses, schools, homeless shelters and churches, in addition to the vital Single Moms' support group and Wilderness Challenge program. A new program called Superstars stresses social skills for children from kindergarten through fifth grade.

"I think the most exciting thing for me is how the agency's commitment to our original mission has stayed the same since day one," says Jim Otepka, the executive director at TriCity Family Services for almost 20 years.

"We have been servicing the needs in families across the life cycle and range of problems," Otepka added. "We have been unwavering in working with teens and families because that's how we started as a humble, street-level outreach program."

Otepka said one major change he has seen in his 19 years at the agency is how the "funding environment has changed with its various twists and turns."

The "really gratifying" aspect for Otepka has been the expansion of the agency's prevention and early intervention services, with as many as 14 different programs offered.

Political punts: TriCity Family Services has been innovative in its fundraising efforts, even convincing some public officials to perform on the football field.

Otepka laughed at the thought of seeing local politicians compete in a punt, pass and kick competition.

St. Charles Mayor Don DeWitte, Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns and Batavia Alderman Alan Wolff will take part in the football skills competition at halftime of the Kane County Eagles game at 7 p.m. next Saturday at Mooseheart.

"Our board of directors has taken a more hands-on role with our fundraising efforts and they came up with this event in conjunction with the Eagles, in which $2 of the $7 ticket comes back to TriCity Family Services" Otepka said.

As for the political challenge on the football field?

"Won't that be a hoot?" Otepka said.

A yawn for water: A notice from the city of Geneva informed me that my drinking water has levels of "gross alpha and combined radium above drinking water standards."

That's good to know, I suppose, though most residents don't exactly know what that means. The notice makes an attempt to explain how this is not as serious as it sounds. It also reminds us that the city intends to have its new water treatment facility on line by the end of this year.

I take this all in with a bit of a yawn because I would not drink tap water from my house anyway. I just don't like how it tastes. Bottled water, kept cold in the refrigerator, works just fine.

They need attention: You'd expect a tree called a river birch to absolutely thrive in the Fox River region. And, according to folks who know trees, for the most part these "clump" trees with peeling bark should thrive here.

However, if you plant a river birch on your property to enhance the landscape, be prepared to nurture and care for it. They require maintenance and will simply shrivel up and die if you are not careful.

That's basically my viewpoint about these beautiful trees after watching a neighbor spend money to save his river birches with extra nourishment in the form of iron treatments. And then realizing I will have to do the same next spring.

It flies by: Why does Labor Day seem to pop up so quickly after Memorial Day? It's because our summers fly by us and our winters hang around forever to annoy us. Or so it seems.

This summer of 2007 might be one we won't be so sorry to see pass. The amount of rain and humid weather certainly took some of the fun out of it.

But we do have September and October upon us now -- arguably our best weather and prettiest months of the year.

dheun@sbcglobal.net