Dantino friends play Sunday fundraiser for Geneva alderman

Geneva Alderman Ralph Dantino is a tough dude.

He’s been battling appendix cancer — and its complications — for more than three years.

But he has managed to stay focused on 5th Ward and city business through most of it.

He’s been known to attend council meetings in person while wearing his chemotherapy pump; he attended by telephone when he finally arrived home after a prolonged hospital stay in Baltimore for complications from surgery in the fall of 2011.

That devotion to serving Geneva has endeared him to a host of other Genevans.

So, the Friends of Ralph Dantino want to help, with a “Rally for Ralph” from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Riverview Banquets, 1117 N. Washington Ave., Batavia.

The gathering was created in order to raise money to help Dantino pay medical bills.

There will be games, music, a raffle, a cash bar and food for sale.

Dantino is a former Geneva school trustee.

He also served with the Geneva Park District Foundation, and on the Geneva Plan Commission.

He and his wife, Nancy, were co-chairmen of the St. Peter Barn Sale.

Nancy Dantino was a PTO president at Harrison Street Elementary and Geneva High School, and belonged to the Geneva Academic Foundation.

“Over the years, Ralph and Nancy have helped so many people in so many ways. Now we can help them,” said Connie Wagner, a “Rally for Ralph” organizer.

Riverview Banquets is just south of the intersection of Route 25 and Fabyan Parkway, along the Fox River. For more information on the “Rally,” contact Connie Wagner at (630) 208-1324, or Geneva Alderman Dean Kilburg or his wife, Linda, at (630) 208-1682.

Donations to the “Rally for Ralph” fund may be sent to “Rally for Ralph,” State Bank of Geneva, 22 S. First St., Geneva, 60134.