Tour of Elk Grove will help vets' group

Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said Tuesday the village has devised a new source of funding for a hometown group dedicated to serving veterans and their families.

A portion of the proceeds from the Tour of Elk Grove cycling race happening in August will go toward the Heart of a Marine Foundation. Johnson at Tuesday night's village board meeting gave the foundation the final check from three years of donating some of the proceeds from the sale of a home raffled off as part of the village's 50th anniversary celebration. Elk Grove Village has given the group $16,893 since 2006.

Village trustees on Tuesday also broadened the reach of those village funds, making the money available to military personnel throughout the state. Before the change, the taxpayer money could only go to help those in Elk Grove Village, Schaumburg, Rolling Meadows, Itasca, Wood Dale, Bensenville, Des Plaines or Mount Prospect.

Elk Grove Village residents Roy and Georgette Frank started the Heart of a Marine Foundation after the death of their son Marine Lance Cpl. Phillip E. Frank, 20, in Iraq in 2004.

"Because we believe he did truly have the heart of a Marine. He was a warrior but he was also an empathetic young man," Roy Frank said. "We do these things out of love and remembrance for our son."

Since 2006, the group has devoted $100,000 to soldiers, veterans and families across Illinois and the nation. Some of their services include sending canes to the injured, giving out scholarships and donating money to those in need. All service branches are served, not just Marines, Georgette Frank said.

The foundation recently has been part of a project to help those with brain injuries heal with the help of a computer program.

On Tuesday, the meeting took a solemn tone as village officials remembered four fallen soldiers since 2004 who have hailed from Elk Grove: Lance Cpl. Phillip Frank; Marine Cpl. John T. Olson, 21; Army Spc. Adriana N. Salem, 21; and Air Force Capt. James S. Cronin, 32.

"Here in Elk Grove Village, we don't want to forget - and won't forget - the sacrifices they've made," Mayor Johnson said.