Batavia man to help Mayan children in Guatemala

Frank Mares has been in the Geneva Rotary Club for only two years, but he'll have a great story to share with his members soon.

Mares has volunteered to be part of an international Rotary service project to Guatemala. He leaves Saturday and will return Feb. 4.

Mares, who operates Prairie Structures Inc. real estate firm in Batavia, said he will be involved in "construction activity" on the trip.

"This will be my first trip of this kind, and we are going into an extremely poor Mayan village," Mares said. "We will be working with children primarily, working on building projects with them to improve their lives."

Mares will be part of a group of Rotarians from throughout the Chicago area, and each member has been alerted about a vital item:

"It's going to be the rainy season, and we are heading into quite rural areas, so we'll be traveling by boat to get there," Mares said. "So we were told to bring a poncho, because we are going to get wet."

Big, blue: When hurricanes rip through Florida or the Gulf Coast, they leave in their wake a sea of "blue tops." That's the term for all of the blue tarps on buildings that lost a roof or a portion of wall.

You can't help but notice a rather large blue tarp draped on the side of the St. Charles Super 8 Motel on East Main Street. One would think the building had been damaged in some fashion. But the tarp was protecting workers who were finishing stucco work that motel managers tell me will make it look like a new building.

Biggest donation: I could sense excitement in the tone of a note that ladies in the Welcome Club of the Fox Valley sent regarding their recent donation to the Fox Valley Hospice.

It was a $13,554 donation, the biggest of its kind for this philanthropic organization of women who choose a different charity each year to benefit through its work.

A long eight hours?: How would you interpret "limited use" of your toilet facilities? My translation would be "in emergencies only."

This will be important for St. Charles residents in certain neighborhoods in the coming weeks because the city will be working on some old sewer pipelines.

Only a public works official could appreciate this, but they'll be utilizing a new method of replacing portions of the line. That being said, residents are still going to have to be aware of these eight-hour time slots that the new piping needs to dry and set.

So plan your visits to the bathroom and shower with precision -- and good timing. The challenge, of course, will be that when nature calls, it calls.

Now they're frozen: I'm just going to take a wild guess here, but I'm thinking that the leaves that are still sitting on parkways and the edge of people's lawns aren't going to be picked up by city crews any time soon.

After all, how do you suck up a pile of leaves frozen solid like a Popsicle from this arctic cold snap?

dheun@sbcglobal.net