Lions Club donates all cash from Christmas tree sales to medical fund

The Algonquin Lions Club has decided to donate all of the proceeds from its Christmas tree sales to the medical fund for Samantha Sanchez, a local sixth-grader battling leukemia.

That means the fund is $3,000 richer, reports Sammy's aunt Kelly Keller.

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 Eileen O'Mara last year to inflammatory breast cancer.

The club, which typically reserves half of the proceeds toward select charities, had already donated $500 to help Sammy's family pay her medical bills.

"We hope our donation eases her family's burden," said Lions Club President Jerry Glogowski.

Algonquin has taken Sammy's story to heart.

Residents raised $17,000 for her fund late last year during a fundraiser and St. Margaret Mary Catholic School collected $650 for the family as well.

"The Algonquin community and the neighbors have done a great job for Sammy," Keller said.

Sammy has been having a series of ups and downs in her fight against the disease.

She spent Christmas and New Year's Day with her family but was in the hospital last week to remove a cyst from her pancreas, which originated from the chemotherapy treatments, said her brother Anthony.

Monday, she returned to the hospital to deal with complications stemming from that surgery, Keller said.

I will be keeping Sammy and her family in my prayers.

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.

Snow and ice: If you live in Lake in the Hills and like to ice skate, there's a silver lining to all this bitter cold we've been having of late.

That's because both of the village's ice skating rinks are open from sunrise to sunset.

There's one at Stoneybrook Park, 617 Anderson Drive, and another at Sunset Park, 5200 Miller Road.

If you see a red flag flying at either rink, it indicates that location is closed, due to terrible ice conditions.

If you don't see a flag, that means the rink is open for business.

Ice skating is the only activity allowed, so you can forget about hockey or any other games.

For more information, call the village at (847) 960-7400.

Snow and ice, part II: If you live in Lake in the Hills, public works officials ask that you not throw snow back in the street when you're plowing your own property.

Officials are trying to avoid using excess salt, since the price went way up this season. So it's counterproductive if you're throwing more snow into the street, because it's either plowed back to the edge of the street or will cancel out the ability for the salt to do its work.

If you use a snow thrower, officials ask that you start from the street and work toward your house so the snow goes into your front yard.

For more information, call public works at (847) 960-7500.

Catch you later: See you in a couple of weeks. I'm going on a much-needed and well-deserved holiday and will be back in early February.

• Lenore Adkins covers Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, Pingree Grove and McHenry County College. To reach her, call (847) 608-2725 or send an e-mail to ladkins@dailyherald.com