The briefs

Donate a dress to brighten holidays

Amazing Gracie's Children's Clothing Shoppe in Barrington is committed to donating 100 brand new dresses for girls of all ages and sizes to Children's Home and Aid in time for the holidays.

Donate a new dress with the tags still on at Amazing Gracie's 100 Dresses Party to inspire a little girl during the holiday season, and enjoy refreshments, a coloring contest, face painting, cookie decorating, music, dancing and more.

The event will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Amazing Gracie's Children's Clothing Shoppe is at 126 W. Main St., Barrington.

Each year Children's Home and Aid serves about 40,000 children and families in Illinois by helping them overcome obstacles such as poverty, abuse and neglect.

Talks about online safety at Harper

Harper College will hold two free programs designed to help people stay safe on social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook and Internet chat rooms.

The first program, "How to Protect Yourself Online: From Free Speech to Facebook" with C.L. Lindsay, discusses how MySpace or Facebook pages can come back to haunt you at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Room E107, Building E, and at 7 p.m. in the Building J Theatre.

The second program, "Protecting the People We Love from Online Predators," will feature William Plahm, who will talk about the exploitation of children via the Internet at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Room A238, Building A and at 7 p.m. in the J Theatre, Building J of the Harper campus.

Both programs are free, but tickets are required. For more information, call (847) 925-6100 or visit harpercollege.edu.

Harper College is at 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine.