Firefighters to offer CPR classes

Here's a good New Year's resolution: Learn CPR.

Not only is it a potentially life-saving technique, it's pretty easy to do and relatively inexpensive to learn.

In fact, 25 bucks and an open Thursday evening are all you need to get started, thanks to the St. Charles Fire Department.

Starting Jan. 10, the department's Heartsaver program gets pumping with weekly classes for adults and children.

Students learn how to recognize sign of heart attacks, strokes, cardiac arrests and choking, and, of course, how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on adults and kids.

The classes are at 5:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at Century Station, 112 N. First Ave. Tuition is $25 a person.

You can sign up at Century Station from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. Or, call (630) 377-4457 during regular business hours.

The courses are open to children younger than 16 years old, but they must be accompanied by a paying adult.

Snow well: Mother Nature didn't do the city of St. Charles any favors by ushering in the season's first snowfalls earlier than usual. Underneath some of that white stuff, it turns out, are piles of leaves still waiting to be collected.

Fortunately, your local public works folks didn't jump the gun and lock up the leaf-collecting equipment at the sight of the first snowflake. Actually, they plan to pick up the last of the fall remnants once the weather breaks.

For now, of course, crews are concentrating on keeping the streets clear of snow and ice. But they promise they'll be back for your leaves.

If you're in a hurry, you can go ahead and bag up the stuff for regular yard waste collection, which continues through the end of December.

Then again, who wants to spend any more time than they must sloshing around in this muck?

'Tis the season: Now is a good time to raid the pantry and head over to 1st Place Chiropractic for its annual holiday food drive.

The business at 1750 E. Main St. is collecting donations for the Northern Illinois Food Bank through Dec. 21 during regular hours.

Suggested items include canned vegetables, tuna, chicken, stews, soup and spaghetti sauce. Glass containers will not be accepted.

It's also worth noting that donors not only will be treated to homemade cookies and cider, they'll also be entered in a contest to win prizes from local merchants.

For more information, call (630) 584-5200.

Winterize your car: Tri-Cities seniors can learn how to winterize their vehicles at a special seminar Jan. 16.

The Central Kane County TRIAD will discuss the topic at a free workshop from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Delnor Health and Fitness Center, 296 Randall Road, Geneva.

TRIAD is a consortium of Tri-Cities municipalities and police and fire departments, which puts on regular seminars on topics of interest to the elderly.

For more information, call (630) 377-4435.

jstockinger@dailyherald.com