Christmas tree sales ring up to help young cancer patient
When you buy a Christmas tree from the Algonquin Lions Club this holiday season, you also will be helping Sammy Sanchez, a local 11-year-old girl battling leukemia.
The club will be giving half of its proceeds to the Samantha Sanchez Medical Fund at Algonquin State bank, said Jerry Kautz, a lions club member who also is the town's village clerk.
"We've had a lot of successful sales in the past, so we're looking forward to making a lot of money for them," Kautz told me last week.
Last year, the club, chartered in 1939 and the village's oldest service organization, raked in a bit more than $4,000 from Christmas tree sales - the club has already donated $500 of its own money to the medical fund.
The group, which has been selling trees and wreaths since 1977, typically reserves the money for the charitable causes it sponsors throughout the year.
But members changed their minds this year after learning about Sammy, who lost her mother earlier this year to inflammatory breast cancer.
You can buy your tree, wreaths and other plants outside the Algonquin State bank on Huntington Drive at Randall Road. Hours are 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the weekends - the sale began this week.
The Lions Club is the latest group to lend a helping hand to Sammy, a sixth-grader at Algonquin Middle School.
In October, a pair of students from St. Margaret Mary Catholic School collect $325 from teachers and their fellow students.
In response, the Rev. Michael Tierney, pastor of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, matched the funds.
Moreover, the Algonquin community raised more than $17,000 to help Sammy's family pay off her medical bills.
For more information about the Christmas tree sales, send an e-mail to algonquinlionsclub@prodigy.net.
If you would like to help the Sanchez family, please send your donations to: Samantha Sanchez Medical Account, Harris Bank of Algonquin; 225 S. Randall Road, Algonquin, IL 60102.
Voice from above: Have people always told you that you have a perfect voice for the radio?
Well, if you buy a copy of "Elgin People, Elgin Pets," the latest from local author George Rawlinson, you can fill out a raffle ticket for a chance to co-host a one-hour program on WRMN 1410 AM.
The show will primarily be about Elgin and local pets, but you can also talk about your business, your organization, your pets or yourself.
The winning ticket will be drawn at 7 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Lily Falls gift store, 10 Douglas Ave., Elgin
The show will air at 3 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15.
You can buy the book at Lily Falls, Books at Sunset, 1100 South St., or State Street Market Shops, 701 State Street.
The book, published through State Street Publishing, costs $24.95, including tax. A portion of the proceeds go toward supporting Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin.
For information, call (847) 902-3664.
• Lenore Adkins covers Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, Pingree Grove and McHenry County College. She lives in Elgin. To reach her, send an e-mail to ladkins@dailyherald.com or call (847) 608-2725.