Arlington Heights garage sale for a cause

By Burt Constable

bconstable@dailyherald.com

In training for their 60-mile walk to raise funds for breast cancer research and support programs, one group of suburban volunteers got some unexpected exercise during their fundraising weekend garage sale in the Northgate subdivision of Arlington Heights.

“We’ve pulled everything in and out of this garage a few times,” says Melissa Mykleby, 33, as a few raindrops forced her from her wet driveway full of goods to her dry garage full of goods. “It will be nice to get my car back in here, but it’s for a good cause.”

Mykleby, her sister Jessie Larson, 31, of Palatine, and friend Cheryl Dill, 46, of Wauconda, raised more than $800 during the neighborhood garage sale on Friday and Saturday.

The women, who were leaving the garage sale for a wine-tasting fundraiser Saturday night at D’Vine Wine and Gifts in Palatine, hope to raise $20,000 in time for their participation in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure walk this August. Dill said the seven-woman team already has raised $11,700. Other members of the walk team are Laura Dill of Island Lake, Rosemary Iniguez of Huntley, Ana Hasan of Lake in the Hills and Leone Levitz of Buffalo Grove.

The women are walking under the name “WALKstars” in honor of longtime family friend Leticia “Letty” Frenkel, an Orland Park mother who was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer shortly before her 40 birthday and already has had surgery and several chemotherapy treatments.

“She was the cool baby sitter we had if we were lucky,” Larson remembers.

“She’s so full of life and energy,” Mykleby says of Frenkel. “She’s our rock star, so we’ll be her WALKstars.”

A nearby couple donated $75 from their garage sale to the team, and many other neighbors, co-workers and friends donated goods and money. Even a lemonade and hot-dog stand manned by Mykleby’s husband Sean, son Alex, 5, daughter Mackenzie, 7, and her friend Emilia, 6, brought in some extra cash.

“Our neighbors have been amazing,” Mykleby says.

For more information on WALKstars and the fundraising walk in Chicago, visit www.the3day.org.