Bring an extra set of jammies to this pajama party for a great cause

While I meet my neighbors at the evening performance of "Rent" at West Aurora High School tonight, my husband and kindergartner will be attending another fun event at Tanner Trails Community Church.

I'll make sure they each bring pillows and blankets for the floor so they can snuggle in and watch the DVD "Alvin and the Chipmunks" at the North Aurora Mothers Club Pajama Drive.

And I'll make sure they bring a brand new set of pajamas for the Mothers Club pajama fundraiser. All the new pajamas collected at the movie night will be donated to the Pajama Program.

The program supplies new pajamas to foster children who are waiting to be placed in permanent homes. The charity was founded in New York and has 73 chapters nationwide. The chapters provided 156,384 new pajamas and books to children in 2007, according to the group's Web site.

Jennifer Desbles and her NAMC philanthropy committee are serving cookies and popcorn and collecting new pajamas. Desbles requests the pajamas be in their original packaging with the tags on. The Pajama Program needs sizes from infant to adult medium.

"We heard about the pajama project and it was an idea we all liked. We decided to make it more than just bring pajamas to a monthly meeting," Desbles said. "So we're inviting everyone to a movie night with pajamas as the entry fee."

The pajamas donated tonight will go to the Chicago chapter, which distributes the pajamas to local agencies including Mooseheart, she said.

The family movie night begins at 7 p.m. at Tanner Trails Community Church, 2301 Tanner Road.

Contact Jennifer Desbles at (630) 404-9265 for more information about the evening.

More information about the Pajama Program can be found at www.pajamaprogram.org.

Beyond just cookies:

Girl Scouts from the Vega Service Unit of North Aurora haven't stopped serving the community.

After they finished delivering cookies to homes in the Fox Valley area and contributed hundreds of boxes for U.S. armed forces in Iraq, the Girl Scouts focused their energies on stopping hunger right here at home.

The North Aurora scouts started their "Girl Scouts Stop Hunger in '08" food drive in March and volunteers collected over 4,500 pounds of food last Saturday to cap off the food drive.

"It was so cold and windy that day," said Service Unit Manager Patty Graw. Troops filled up seven vans and trucks with food that was delivered to Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry and Wayside Food Pantry in Aurora.

"The parents say that the kids are learning good community service at a young age with this project," Graw said.

Graw and her granddaughter, Kayla, toured the Batavia pantry after they delivered the collected food.

Stan Johnson at the pantry told Graw they receive a lot of macaroni and cheese and green beans from donors. The pantry is currently in need of fruit juices, canned fruit, canned whole corn, flour, sugar and personal care items.

"This is not for the homeless," Graw said. "These are working families that need food, and they need our help."

The Girl Scouts are still collecting items. If you'd like to make a food donation or to arrange a pick up or drop off, you can contact Patty Graw at (630) 254-7991.