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Grateful for help with GEM project

“It takes a village” for Southminster Presbyterian Church’s biennial God Energizing Mission (GEM) project to be successful.

In early November, several local businesses, along with 200 church members and friends, combined their gifts and talents to do much-needed upkeep and repairs on 19 homes in Wheeling and Elk Grove Townships.

While getting to know these neighbors, we discovered that many have lost their jobs or are having a difficult time because of health issues and family loss.

GEM volunteers - ranging in age from 5 to 85 - patched a concrete driveway, painted rooms, washed windows, cleaned walls, floors and carpets, raked leaves, cleaned out gutters, assembled gift baskets for the homeowners and performed several other tasks.

Southminster is especially grateful for local businesses that provided services, supplies and/or equipment for free or at reduced costs. These included Ibbotson Heating Co., Jay Haack Builders, CRC Concrete Raising & Repair CEO Patti Peterson, Frank Miller of Taylor Plumbing, Terminix and the Carpet Outlet. Because of their generosity, several of our neighbors will have much more comfortable homes to live in through the winter and beyond.

We are fortunate to live in a community where individuals and businesses recognize the need to give back. Please keep the above-mentioned companies in mind when you need repairs or construction work done on your home.

Cynthia Greenwood

Arlington Heights

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