Palatine sale to help family, hospital

Little Rosie Colucci and Caitlyn Churak were connected in a way no children should be.

Aside from living just minutes apart in Palatine, they shared inoperable brain tumors, visits to Children's Memorial Hospital, treatment, tests and even some doctors.

Last June, Caitlyn lost her battle to a rare form of brain cancer known as a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. She was just 6.

Now, friends and family are putting on a charity garage sale in her memory.

The second annual Rummage for Rosie will continue 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Saturday at 1061 N. Penny Lane and 1217 W. Claridge Court, the Palatine homes of the Coluccis and a family friend of the Churaks.

Included in the effort is Rosie, now 4. She's donating a third of the Penny Lane proceeds to a foundation Caitlyn's parents are establishing, a third to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation's Ride for Kids, and a third to Research for Rosie, which the Coluccis started in 2007. All of the Claridge Court proceeds will benefit Caitlyn's new foundation.

Rosie's mother JoAnne said Caitlyn had a profound effect on her daughter. One of the last things Caitlyn did was to host a lemonade stand for Rosie. She gave the proceeds to Rosie for her Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World.

She also collects toys for patients at Children's Memorial Hospital.

Rosie has neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that has caused an inoperable brain tumor, excessive growth hormone issues and hydrocephalus, a life-threatening condition in which fluid can build up on the brain. She's been battling the complications since September 2007, enduring 15 months of chemotherapy, seven surgeries and more than 500 shots.

To make a donation, go to firstgiving.com/2009ridingforrosie. For more information, go to caitlynchurak.com and researchforrosie.com.

- Kim Pohl

Giving back to South: The swine flu and tough economy dominated this week's news, but not all the news is bad. Closer to home, Jon Cura is helping out in a much less dramatic way.

The Arlington Heights resident is returning to his old bike racks at South Middle School this weekend to refurbish the rusted racks for an Eagle Scout project.

About 40 volunteers will be helping Cura, a Prospect High School freshman, on Saturday and Sunday. Local restaurants, along with hardware and grocery stores donated everything from coffee and pizza to Rust-Oleum, paint and breathing masks.

"I just wanted people to know that there are good and caring people out there in a time when things are so tough," Cura wrote me in an e-mail. "They are willing to give of their time or product when they have personal and professional hardships."

- Sheila Ahern

Vidalia onions return to Arlington: The first weekend in May means one thing to many Arlington Heights residents: onions. For the past 30 years, a truckload Vidalia onions have arrived yearly at this time direct from Georgia to the Arlington Heights Masonic Lodge at the corner of Arlington Heights Road and Magnolia Street. The location is now the home to a Peoples' Bank of Arlington Heights but it's also still the site for the annual onion sale.

The sale starts at 9 a.m. both today and Saturday. The sale serves as a major fundraiser to assist many of the local charities that the Shrine Club supports.

- Sheila Ahern

Deal helps community: Officials at the Hoffman Estates Park District celebrated Monday like they scored a hat trick.

And just like a hat trick, the number three comes to play, as there are three parties involved with a creative deal that park district officials say frees up about $100,000 per year for ongoing programs for seniors and the underprivileged.

"Without this deal, there's no way," Park District President Craig Bernacki said.

The deal - between the park district, the Chicago Wolves hockey team and George Moser, the owner of the Stonegate Convention Centre in Hoffman Estates - isn't new. They'd agreed on it before the park district's Community Center and Ice Arena was built in 2004. But Monday, officials gathered to celebrate.

Moser originally agreed to donate land to the district for a billboard off Barrington Road and I-90. The district, in turn, subleased the recently erected double-sided billboard to the Wolves for marketing purposes for $1 per year.

Use of the billboard allows the Wolves to lease practice rink time and facilities at the arena for a reduced rate of about $300,000 annually for 15 years. The deal allows the team to afford the lease, and gives the park district an anchor tenant.

State Rep. Fred Crespo stepped in and pushed for a bill that lifted zoning restrictions and allow the billboard to be built. That bill became law in August 2007.

- Ashok Selvam

Free copier for kids' center: After years of bad news and delays, the Children's Home and Aid Society of Illinois' low-income day care center in Schaumburg is taking all the good news it can get now that it's finally open.

The latest good news is the donation of a free photocopier for the center by Downers Grove-based Illinois Business Systems.

The 34-year-old business was bought 18 months ago by Rick Mytnik, who's done his best to find homes at not-for-profit organizations for some of the overstock of used copiers at his firm.

But as he's discovered, giving stuff away isn't as easy as it sounds.

Though he's specifically looking for not-for-profits to donate to, he's received letters of request from for-profit businesses claiming they've simply not made a profit recently.

And even among agencies that truly are not-for-profit, there's been a lot of skepticism expressed about the possibility of a hidden catch.

But Mytnik said he recently found two worthy recipients who understood exactly what the spirit of the donations was in both the Schaumburg day care center and Fernwood United Methodist Church on the South Side of Chicago.

Children's Home and Aid was delayed more than five years in opening its Schaumburg day care center by the freezing of promised state funding by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Karen Selman, vice president of Northwest Suburban Services for Children's Home and Aid, said the donation not only assists the center's operations without incurring further expense, but helps earmark more money toward the challenge grant by the philanthropic Kresge Foundation.

A committee of local businessmen is privately raising funds to pay off a $1.8 million loan to complete the center. But the Kresge Foundation has promised to pay the final $500,000 of the loan if the rest of the money can be raised by Sept. 1. So every little bit helps to determine how close or far away the payoff of the loan is.

- Eric Peterson