Ribbons line Elite to remember soldier

Yellow ribbons have wrapped around trees on West Chicago's Elite Avenue since Steven Saflarski was deployed to Iraq in January.

Unfortunately, Saflarski's deployment has lasted longer than the ribbons. The hard storms that hammered the area two weeks ago took most of those Elite Avenue ribbons with them.

Saflarski's wife, Karyn, couldn't find any more of the ribbon to replace what had blown off, so some trees remained bare -- until Saturday afternoon.

That's when several West Chicago Community High School cheerleaders and West Chicago Park District cheerleaders showed up full of spirit and yellow ribbon.

They wrapped every tree from East National Street south to Elmwood Avenue on Elite Avenue.

Saflarski's youngest daughter, Kyra, who turns 8 today, is a park district cheerleader. Her squadmates and fellow cheerleaders thought it would be nice to cheer her up.

"I think it shows that our cheerleaders are dedicated to the community, and we want to give back and make a difference," said 17-year-old senior Kellie Driscoll, a varsity squad captain from West Chicago. "We want to support our troops in Iraq.

"We want people from our community to know that the high school cheerleaders are thinking about them."

Saflarski, a Navy Reservist stationed at Camp Bucca in Umm Qasr, Iraq, as a military police officer, only gets to call home about once a week.

This week's call just happened to come as the cheerleaders were finishing hanging the ribbon. After talking to the family and wishing Kyra a happy birthday, he thanked the cheerleaders for their support.

They returned the favor with a few cheers on his front lawn, which Karyn videotaped and intends to mail to Steven.

"Thanks girls. That was awesome," he said over speakerphone. "It means a lot. Very cool."

After all the cheering and ribbon wrapping, Karyn Saflarski was just grateful to have her trees decorated so her neighbors remember Steven.

"So many people have lost hope and given up, but we can't do that. We need to remember and stay strong," she said. "My husband is over there fighting for his country."