Don't want it? St. Charles preps for spring cleanup pickup
You could call it "junk" pickup, but spring cleanup pickup has a little nicer ring to it.
The term has a little more meaning in St. Charles, especially the next two Saturdays when the city conducts its spring cleanup pickups.
This is a popular service among city residents who are in neighborhoods that pay a special fee to be able to get rid of large items without having to make their own arrangements and pay for them to be hauled away.
The city plunks down $115,000 for a waste disposal contract that allows residents to get rid of stuff that is otherwise too expensive or too big for regular collection.
"There is no weight or size restriction on the items," said Beth Mund, city public affairs manager.
There will be plenty of old furniture, lawn furniture, bikes, books, toys and other items out on city parkways on the east side this Saturday and on the west side May 3.
The city Web site lists the numerous items the disposal company will not pick up -- such as old tires, car batteries, appliances, household and yard waste -- so residents should be aware of those restrictions.
Mund also wanted to remind residents to put the items on the parkways and not in the streets.
For those babies: Premature births can result in several complications for mother and child.
And some people you'll see walking around Pottawatomie Park in St. Charles starting at 9 a.m. Sunday know all about this.
Anyone interested in supporting the local walk for March of Babies can sign up for the 6.2-mile walk or donate money the morning of the event on behalf of the walkers participating.
The event is an offshoot of March of Dimes, which wanted to create more awareness of respiratory, brain, heart or intestinal problems in premature babies. It also wants more expecting mothers to be aware of the symptoms of preeclampsia -- blurred vision, high blood pressure and excessive protein in the urine -- that can have repercussions on both mom and the newborn.
For those soldiers: We mentioned spring cleaning in this column, so how about a spring care package?
The Fox Valley Support Inc. organization is conducting its spring care package mailing to soldiers from the Tri-Cities area deployed in the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Items can be dropped off at the Batavia VFW from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday and support group volunteers will organize the goods for mailing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Batavia VFW.
The group is enthusiastic about this project, says co-chairman Sarah Giachino, because a Christmas season mailing of more than 200 packages was so successful.
Giachino said the organization received emotional and uplifting feedback from Cpt. Heather Ritchey from the Fox Valley who sent a note about soldiers "grinning from ear to ear" after receiving the packages.
More information about the organization and the mailings is available by calling Giachino at (630) 587-3789 or by e-mail at myconfident@aol.com.
dheun@sbcglobal.net