Good News Sunday: Bricks of Hope collects Lego sets to give to kids in local hospitals

This is Good News Sunday, a compilation of some of the more upbeat and inspiring stories published recently by the Daily Herald:

Let kids in hospitals be kids and heal

Adam Petraglia of Wauconda has always loved Legos. He would spend hours in his Lake Zurich basement as a boy letting his imagination run wild. Now 32, Adam's devotion to the bricks runs even deeper thanks to a devastating turn of events on his 11th birthday. That's when he was diagnosed with leukemia.

Now 32, Adam launched Bricks of Hope, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which collects donations of new Lego sets to be given to area hospitals.

Wauconda resident and founder of Bricks of Hope Adam Petraglia shows off his inventory of new Lego sets getting ready to be delivered to local children's hospitals later this month. - Courtesy of Adam Petraglia

"Legos offer a connection to play, which is essential to healing for children," Adam said. "Kids in the hospital don't have choices. They are in a fight for life. Legos just let you be a kid again."

After he found out he had leukemia on his 11th birthday, Adam Petraglia's Make-A-Wish was a family vacation to San Diego, where one of the stops was, of course, Legoland. - Courtesy of Adam Petraglia

Thanks to a network of family and friends, Adam was able to donate 70 new Lego sets to Advocate Children's Hospital in Park Ridge, where he was treated. In January, he donated more than 100 new sets to Comer Children's Hospital and matched that for La Rabida in February. In March, he aims to make the same donation to Lurie Children's Hospital and in April to Shriner's. He said some sets stay in the community rooms for everyone to share, while other hospitals send kids home with them.

For the full story, click here.

Irish Dancers get requests to perform

The Arlington Heights-based Hogan Academy of Irish Dance has been getting requests to perform in person like gangbusters.

Some of the dancers from Hogan Academy of Irish Dance before last year's Regional Championships, held in November in Chicago. - Courtesy of Hogan Academy of Irish Dance

With last year's COVID-19 mitigations in place, the school filmed a virtual show of their performers doing traditional dances and shared it with area schools, nursing homes and other groups. One year later, the school has been inundated with offers to perform in person.

At last count, they had 35 shows lined up leading up to St. Patrick's Day and some on the day itself.

"It's the most performances we've had," says Caitlin Hogan Hubick, the Arlington Heights native who started the school five years ago. "It's crazy."

Hogan Academy of Irish Dance will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year. What began with 10 students in two classes has grown to 100 students, spread out in multiple classes, from as young as 2-year-olds through high school teens. Hubick opened her school, she says, with the idea of building an Irish dance community in the Northwest suburbs.

Young Hogan dancers wait to perform at Peggy Kinnane's Irish Pub in Arlington Heights. - Courtesy of Hogan Academy of Irish Dance

"I wanted to create a family," Hubick says, "and that's what this feels like to me. I want to know the parents, know the kids and know what other activities they're interested in."

For the full story, click here.

  Mount Prospect VFW Post 1337 Commander Les Durov, left, stands with Mount Prospect Fire Department Battalion Chief Tim Cassidy during an awards ceremony honoring Cassidy at the March 1 village board meeting. - Steve Zalusky | Staff Photographer

Mount Prospect Fire Department battalion chief lauded by VFW

Mount Prospect VFW Post 1337 recently honored Mount Prospect Fire Department Battalion Chief Tim Cassidy with the First Responder Americanism Certificate of Merit. Still, the veteran firefighter insisted that it was a shared honor.

"None of the work I'm doing gets done in a vacuum," said Cassidy, who credited the support of village leaders, his bosses at the fire department and fellow firefighters for the recognition. "I am highly honored to accept this, especially based on the group that's recognizing me," said Cassidy during a presentation before the village board.

Fire Chief John Dolan called Cassidy, who heads up training for the department, the reason he and Deputy Chief Tom Wang sleep at night.

"When we notified Tim he was getting the award, in his typical humble self, he said, 'What did I do? I didn't run into a burning building,'" Dolan said.

For the full story, click here.

Coby Bassin, left, and Trevor Dralle on their 2,201-mile journey to hike the Appalachian Trail to help send kids with cancer to Camp One Step. Both Bassin and Dralle are leukemia survivors. - Courtesy of Jill Kulbok Carlson

Taking a hike to send kids to camp

Camp One Step's overarching mission is to "Empower Kids Who Have Cancer," encouraging them to take on the world. They did that with Coby Bassin, a 23-year-old oncology nurse from Glenview, and Trevor Dralle, a 23-year-old tree specialist from Brookfield, Wisconsin.

Bassin and Dralle are taking on the world, or at least 2,201 miles of the Appalachian Trail, starting on Springer Mountain in Georgia -- through 14 states, up the East Coast -- and finishing at Katahdin Mountain in Maine in what they hope will take only six months.

Through the Camp One Step summer Camp Program, Bassin and Dralle met at the sleep-away camp in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. They were both 8-year-old leukemia patients in remission and ended up in the same cabin in 2008, becoming fast friends. To learn more about raising funds for Camp One Step, including the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, visit TeamOneStep.org.

For the full story, click here.

The Can Line from South Elgin High School features, from left, junior Christopher Avila, junior Gabbi Flynn, junior Anna Fleck, senior Joe Lortie, and senior Collin Van Der Karr with their percussion line performance during the finals of the 2022 U-46 TalentFest, which was held March 8 at the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin. The group came in first place. - Courtesy of John Konstantaras

Elgin High takes U-46 TalentFest Trophy

The Can Line from South Elgin High School features, from left, junior Christopher Avila, junior Gabbi Flynn, junior Anna Fleck, senior Joe Lortie, and senior Collin Van Der Karr with their percussion line performance during the finals of the 2022 U-46 TalentFest, which was held March 8 at the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin. The group came in first place. - Courtesy of John Konstantaras

Elgin High School took home the traveling TalentFest Trophy at the recent Elgin Area School District U-46 TalentFest, held at the Hemmens Cultural Center. South Elgin High School's acts were ranked highly, finishing in first and third place.

At TalentFest, finalists from all five District U-46 high schools perform. The five acts receiving the most audience votes perform again, this time also evaluated by five preselected judges.

TalentFest Coordinator Jeff Grosser holds the TalentFest Trophy, which is given to the school with the most overall votes. - Courtesy of John Konstantaras

Those judges choose the first-, second-and third-place winners. The winners receive a cash prize and a plaque. The school with the most audience votes combined between its two acts receives the traveling TalentFest Trophy.

For the full story, click here.

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