Cook book sales raised money, but what for?

It was almost a decade ago that Carpentersville resident Bonnie Lipprandt donated 284 copies of her recipe book to the village's police department to raise money to fight gangs, crime and drugs.

Bonnie instructed the department to sell the cookbooks, BONnie Apetit, for $7.50 apiece.

Though she did not have much spare time to dedicate to volunteering in the village, Bonnie said donating the cookbooks was just as effective in helping the village tackle gang, crime and drug problems.

As of 2001, Bonnie said about half of the books had been sold at village hall. The books weren't sold at the village's police department, since village hall sees more traffic than the local lock-up.

At Tuesday's board meeting, Bonnie asked the staff and Village Manager Craig Anderson to investigate how and where the proceeds had been spent.

By all calculations, Bonnie said about $1,000 had been raised from the proceeds of the recipe book.

Back in 1999, the assistant village manager at that time, Phil Cotter, said the money would be used to purchase a crime prevention item in Bonnie's name.

But in the last nine or so years, Bonnie says she has not heard what her fundraising efforts have afforded the village or how much money was even raised.

"I have been bounced back and forth, back and forth from village hall to the police department," Bonnie told trustees Tuesday. "I am still searching for answers. Several years is a long time to wait to hear information."

Finding answers, though, could prove problematic, since much of the staff from that time has moved on from Carpentersville, and from the reaction of board members, no one was aware of the donation.

Former Police Chief Phil Major is no longer there. Cotter isn't there either, nor is former Village President Cheryal Callahan.

One positive result from Bonnie's appearance before the village board was that she sold a few more books to residents and trustees at the meeting.

In 1996, Lipprandt began cataloguing some of her favorite recipes for the book. Two years later, BONnie Apetit was published.

Bonnie, who owned Bonnie's Café in East Dundee in the early 1980s, told the Daily Herald in 1999 that friends would constantly ask her for recipes and she found she was spending most of her time copying recipes.

So, the book was an easy way to get all of her recipes into one neat and convenient package.

There are some 300 recipes in the book, which is still available from the author.

For information on how to purchase a recipe book, call Bonnie at (847) 426-8231.

Tree pickup

On another note, if you are still hanging on to your Christmas tree or are unsure of how to properly dispose it, ARC will continue to pick them up until the following days:

Friday Pick-up: Jan. 25

Monday Pick-up: Jan. 28

Tuesday Pick-up: Jan. 29

Wednesday Pick-up: Jan. 30

Thursday Pick-up: Jan. 31

• Larissa Chinwah covers Carpentersville, East Dundee and West Dundee. To reach her, call (847) 931-5722, or e-mail lchinwah@dailyherald.com.