The spirit of the holiday season is one of giving and once again the Central Families have demonstrated the definition of a “strong community”. A big thank you to all the Central families that donated to the KidsCare collection. The Central School CAKE (Courteous And Kind to Everyone) project also made a large donation to the fund which will help the committee assist our families in need.

Enjoy the long winter break!

On Monday December 15, 2008 at 3:58 PM the Riverside Police Department was advised of a suspicious person in the area of Bloomingbank Road, Barrypoint and Scottswood Roads.

A male subject described as being about 5′11″ to 6′00″ tall about 275 pounds wearing a tan leather waist length coat, blue jeans, black gloves and boots, tan or brown cap and a blue surgical type mask was following a young girl walking home from Hauser Junior High School.

The suspicious subject started following the girl in the vicinity of the Riverside Train Station, 90 Bloomingbank Road and continued to follow the girl down Barrypoint Road to Scottswood Road . During the time that he was following her the suspicious person kept stopping and turning around and looking behind him for an unknown reason.

When a vehicle stopped next to the young girl walking home the suspicious male subject turned around and walked away in the other direction.

If anyone sees a suspicious person they are asked to call 911 immediately and provide the location of the suspicious person.

If you have any information on this suspect please contact Det. Sgt. Dave Krull at 447-2127, X284 or dkrull@riverside.il.us.

Central School’s KidsCare program was organized to help promote the importance and impact of charity. This year, KidsCare has the opportunity to have more of an impact than ever before, but we need your help. While the number of Riverside families in need has risen this year, donations have dropped. We need your assistance so we can help our Riverside community.

If you can find it in your heart this holiday season to make a donation, of any size, please put it in an envelope marked KidsCare and put it into your child’s backpack OR drop it off at the Central School office, attention KidsCare by Wednesday December 17th. If you have any questions about how this money will be used, please contact Cheryl Dowling (see student directory for phone number.)

Thank you very much for your generosity.

Through a grant made available from the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority (IVPA), the Riverside Police Department along with staff from the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention (ICVP) recently completed the first of three training sessions for Riverside District 96 teachers and administrators. Through services from ICVP, the training is aimed at bullying prevention in the schools as well as raising issues such as cyber-bullying.

During the training session, teachers and administrators were asked to gauge bullying in their schools. This was done by ICVP to get a sense of what is occurring in Riverside schools so that they can gear the training specifically for Riverside . The remaining sessions will concentrate on giving teachers and administrators the tools to understand bullying and how to monitor kids.

Police Chief Tom Weitzel said, “As a police department, we are dedicated to working with Riverside schools and ICVP to make certain our schools remain among the safest.”

For more information about this program please contact Sergeant Frank Lara at flara@riverside.il.us.

5^th graders at Central School have organized a Holiday Toy Drive. All students are encouraged to donate gently used toys to help others in need. All toys will be donated to the Salvation Army. The toy donations should be placed in the bin outside the school office. Please make all donations by December 17^th. Thank you!

Anything that can be sent to the soldiers overseas during the holiday season, to bring them a little joy while being away from their families, is so greatly appreciated. Donations are down this year and Meredith Kelly, coordinator of Operation Stars and Stripes, received an urgent request for Christmas items for 3 more units (90 soldiers in total) who need support and a little comfort while on duty.

I was humbled and overwhelmed as I walked into the hallway and saw the outpouring of generosity our school community had collected. We are so blessed to live in a community and send our children to a school where everyone is so loving and caring. Central School collected nine boxes of items that will be going to the hospitals and individual soldiers and units overseas. Mrs. Kelly will be separating the items into individual boxes and big unit boxes with Christmas trees and all the decorations to send to the troops.

Thank you again to Dr. Limperis and the teachers for creating classroom projects to share with the soldiers. And thanks also to Cheryl Dowling who coordinated and created through KidsCare a collection of all of the wonderful items so desperately needed by our American soldiers overseas.

Mrs. Kelly and I would like to thank all of the Central families for their amazing and generous outpouring of donations for our soldiers overseas. The cards and students classroom work were amazing.

Sincerely,
Kathy Dudek

Please note: you can donate year round through Operation Stars and Stripes; check out their website www.OperationStars.com.

Come shop at Hollywood School PTA’s Holiday Gift Shoppe This Friday, December 5th, from 3:00 - 4:30pm Hollywood School Gym

What is Hollywood School PTA’s Gift Shoppe?

It’s a jolly event where the Hollywood School gym is transformed into our very own Santa’s workshop. Hollywood students shop for gifts for family and friends during the school day. Friends and neighbors are welcome to come after school to shop too! Nothing costs more than $9.00 because our elves shop year round for bargains. If you’re looking for stocking stuffers or a great place for your kids to shop, please join us. Cash or checks made payable to the Hollywood School PTA accepted.

Please contact Jennifer Perry at perryj@centralptonews.org with any questions.

From the Village of Riverside Police department:

“The Riverside Police Department was notified at 0653 hours that a sexual battery had just taken place.

A female juvenile, 15 years old, reported that while walking down Forest towards Riverside-Brookfield High School she was grabbed from behind and a male offender placed his one hand over her mouth telling her not to scream. This male offender then grabbed the female juvenile victim outside her clothing.

The female victim at first thought perhaps a friend was playing a joke on her but when she was grabbed, she turned partially around, noticed the male offender was no one she knew and she struck him.

The male offender became angry when hit, letting loose of the victim and then tried to kick her, losing his balance. The female juvenile victim started shouting “Help, help” and the male offender ran through an alley making his escape. The female juvenile victim called on her cell phone to this department.

Offender: Male white, 28-30 year old, 6′0″. Medium build, wearing a black hat and dark winter coat and had a brown ponytail.

If you have any information on this incident please contact Det. Sgt. Dave Krull at (708) 447-2127 or dkrull@riverside.il.us.”

Thank you.

Please support our KidsCare Project, “Operation Stars and Stripes”, by supporting our troops this holiday season! Any donations are appreciated and collection boxes are located right outside the school office until Tuesday, December 2nd.

Items needed are: Halloween candy, toothbrushes, batteries, Chapstick, Shower Shoes, Instant hot chocolate, travel games or cards, paper and pens, gum, Ziploc bags, Pepto tablets, powdered creamer, disposable razors, fruit snacks, cereal bars, trail mix, nuts, crossword puzzles, Mr. Coffee filters, travel scope, cough drops, foot powder, sugar substitute and twin blankets for the hospital.

If you have any questions, please contact our KidsCare Chair, Cheryl Dowling (phone number in the student directory.)

Don’t have any items to donate? Just make a homemade Christmas card, a great opportunity to use your C.A.K.E. skills, and put it in the box.

Thank you for your generosity!

A BIG THANK YOU!

To everyone that donated their time, sold tickets, purchased raffle ticket(s), donated a raffle prize(s), or called to offer your time to help the Cleveland Family. All of these combined efforts resulted in a very successful event which I certainly could not have done without the help of so many others.

From the elderly lady that called to offer her furniture to the Cleveland family to Thom’s roofing in Riverside that offered to send a crew over to finish off the roof, many thanks! There are so many stories I could tell but I think the message is clear. We have caring people all around us that came together to help out a family in need.

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” —Ghandi

Ticket Sales

To the following friends, teachers, neighbors, organizations, that donated their time to help sell tickets for this event: Peg Aldape, Lisa Buffo, Gina Demitro, Kathy Dudek, Fran Guerrieri, Bonnie Powell, Christina Menchaca, Nancy Guelfi, Nancy Hawes, Rose Grezscowiak, Mary Lescher, Dawn Arnold, Susan Sciotte, Yvonne & Vince (Station Rest.), Joy Brabec, Annette Paulumbo, and The Hearth Group (Karen Bry, Michael Healy, John Coughlin, and John Richards).

Special thanks to the children of Ascension Church of Riverside for coordinating a bake sale and selling tickets after their masses. They raised over $500.00 dollars to help the Cleveland Family.

Getting the Word Out

Thank you to all the schools in District 96 that allowed the use of FEEDBLITZ to help promote this event. (Hauser, Hollywood, Blythe, Ames, and Central School). Also, Riverside Brookfield High School, St. Mary’s of Riverside, St. Barbra of Brookfield, Ascension Church of Riverside, Presbyterian Church of Riverside, United Church of Christ – Forest Park, Hollywood Community Newsletter, Coffee House Newsletter and the Suburban Life. Thank you all for promoting this event without your help we could not have been successful!

The Event

The event started at 2:00 p.m. and by 3:00 pm. a constant flow of people were in and out of “The Station” Restaurant. Some stayed to socialize and enjoy the additional raffles and great appetizers. Others stopped in to say hello and wish Laura and her family well.

The Station of Brookfield had a charming atmosphere along with great food, drinks and excellent service! We certainly do appreciate their generosity and hope you will consider them when planning a party, a lunch or dinner.

Raffle Winners

The Grand Prize Winner — Meindl Family of Riverside won $2,500.00 and donated this back to the Cleveland Family. Other winners included Barbra Roppo of LaGrange who won $250.00, Kevin Duffy of Brookfield a $50 winner, Burt Bullnow of Brookfield, $50.00 winner and the Spirios Family of Brookfield. All of these families donated back their winnings to support the Cleveland Family!

I believe almost everyone in attendance walked away with a gift or two from the great selection of gift certificates that were donated by all the local businesses in the area. (Such as, Brookfield, Riverside, Berwyn, LaGrange and LaGrange Park.)

To those of you who put together individual gifts, such as, (2) Tickets for a Blackhawk’s game, an Avon Basket, and a Hand Crafted Keepsake Box. Everything was extremely appreciated.

Over $8,000.00 was raised!

Laura Cleveland and her family are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from our community and neighboring communities. She is very grateful and wishes to thank everyone for their support during this difficult time.

Wishing all of you a Very Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,

MaryBeth Demitro
Event Organizer
Cleveland Family Event

“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.  I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.”  —George Bernard Shaw