Friday, November 30, 2012
Living local legend Robert Parker Coffin, 95, returned to Long Grove this week to reminisce about the history of the village, fighting for open space and witnessing the growth of surrounding suburbs.
Robert Parker Coffin served as village president of Long Grove for 20 years, plus two years as a trustee, starting in 1946. Then, he spent another 20 years on the village's Plan Commision. Today, he and his wife of 68 years, Betty, live in Lake Forest. They are filled with living history. Coffin, an architect and engineer, helped develop Long Grove's Master Plan. He designed the original covered bridge in Long Grove, and has a main thoroughfare that runs through town named for him. Locals still ask about him. "People always ask about the legend behind Robert Parker Coffin Road in Long Grove," said Mara Sabath, co-owner of Peppermint Stick at 410 Robert Parker Coffin Road, Long Grove. "I always wanted to meet him." Sabath invited the …
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Jen Rubino, 17, a high school senior, has braved two dozen surgeries so far. After one, a kind act inspired her to start a charity that has mushroomed, gained celebrity endorsements and helped children in unimaginable pain.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
- Pam DeFiglio
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Sunday, November 25, 2012
As an 11-year-old with a chronic illness, Jen Rubino was having a dark day. She'd had her 13th surgery, and she was lying in a hospital bed, in pain. When she received a handmade greeting card saying "stay strong" from a volunteer she never met, she says it made a world of difference to know that others were pulling for her to make it--and it really did help her to stay strong. Now 17, Rubino, of Park Ridge, a senior at Maine South High School, has founded a charity to give other seriously ill kids that sense of hope and caring she says the card meant to her. Though Rubino struggles with chronic pain every day, she has managed, through Cards for Hospitalized Kids, to help 10,200 kids in hospitals in many states, helped by endorsements …
Monday, May 7, 2012
Sixth-grader Joshua Yoon of Buffalo Grove scored an 800 on the same college assessment test taken by high school students this year.
Joshua Yoon completed some practice questions before taking the SAT this year, but he admits that he didn’t do much to prepare for the college assessment. Weeks later, he learned that he had little reason to stress over the test. He achieved a perfect 800 score on the math portion of the exam. Such an accomplishment is impressive enough for a college-bound student. It is even more notable when the test-taker is only 12 years old. Joshua, who attends Twin Groves Middle School, was among a select group of Buffalo Grove sixth-graders invited to take the SAT this year after they demonstrated they were ahead of the curve on a school assessment test. Paul Louis, School District 96's curriculum and assessment director, said students who score in …
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Evan Smith combined his passions for running and nature to raise money for a good cause.
Evan Smith doesn’t remember much about the day he started running, but he’s heard the story enough times to tell it. “One time we were going on a hike and I wanted to get home really bad, so I ran,” he said. He got a head start on his dad, who said that at first he couldn’t even spot his son. With his dad closing the gap, the two were reunited after about a mile and a half, Greg Smith recalled. “And he said, 'I’m going to sign you up for a 5K,'” Evan said. The Long Grove resident completed his first race at age 4. Now 8, he’s completed races twice that distance. He recently earned a silver medal in the 200-meter sprint at a national USA Track and Field Junior Olympics competition, where he also placed fifth in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter…
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Buffalo Grove's Continental Restaurant is teaming with the Buffalo Grove Rotary Club to host a free dinner to service people who recently returned home.
Military veterans will be shown a little love and appreciation today in Buffalo Grove, when The Continental Restaurant hosts a Valentine’s Day dinner for about 25 service people and their families. While the restaurant quietly has organized free dinners for special occasions in the past, this is the first time that military members will be the guests of honor, Contintental owner Pete Panayiotou said. “I was in the Army, in the Special Forces, in the ’80s,” he said. “It just hit me. I was in the military, and I saw [service people] on TV, coming home. There they are with no hands, no legs, and there I was with my feet up on the couch.” The dinner, he said, “is just ‘thank you.’ ” “We’re doing it just to do something nice for the community …
The Best Salon and Spa's annual Manicure and Merlot event drew an estimated 200 people.
The party was hopping Monday night at The Best Salon and Spa, which hosted its annual Manicure and Merlot fundraiser. Every space in the salon was accounted for as clients received services and community members flowed in to sip wine, sample food from local restaurants, shop and enter a raffle that boasts a wide range of high-value prizes. Proceeds from the event, thrown annually by a team of women dedicated to fighting cancer, are earmarked for the American Cancer Society. Salon owner Marilyn Wagner, a member of the Lady Lifesavers team, said 100 appointments were made for manicures, pedicures, facials and massages, while an estimated 100 additional people came to support the effort. Raffle prizes were donated by such businesses as eSkape…
Monday, January 30, 2012
The fundraiser at Buffalo Grove's The Best Salon and Spa will benefit the American Cancer Society.
Buffalo Grove’s Lady Lifesavers are gearing up for another fundraising walk to benefit a cancer-related charity. But instead of training for a three-day walk this year, they plan to participate in the American Cancer Society’s 8-kilometer Shamrock Shuffle. “All of us have pretty much walked ourselves out,” said team member Marilyn Wagner, explaining the team’s new approach. But the team, which currently includes eight members, has not wavered in its efforts to raise money. The Best Salon and Spa, which Wagner owns, will host its sixth annual Manicure and Merlot event to benefit the cause. Wagner will donate all profits from services booked between 4:30-9:30 p.m. Feb. 13. The salon can provide services for about 125 clients during that time…
Friday, November 11, 2011
After hearing about multiple teen suicides in the area, Elizabeth Bailey is fighting back.
Elizabeth Bailey dedicates a good portion of her days tending to the needs of others. The Buffalo Grove High School senior spends three days a week taking classes through a dual credit program at Harper College, where she’s in the nursing assistant program. When she’s not in school, she works as a lifeguard at a pool in her hometown Arlington Heights. “I care a lot about people,” she said. So when Bailey realized that suburban teens were committing suicide, she resolved to do her part to make a difference. She is working to establish an awareness program at her school and is in the early stages of planning a year-end event for all School District 214 students. “Basically, suicide is becoming a really big issue,” said Bailey, who has …
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Steve Rusin received the Buffalo Grove Fire Department's annual award Oct. 17.
When your boss tells you to do something, you do it. So when Buffalo Grove firefighter Steve Rusin was instructed to show up in his dress blues at Monday night’s Village Board meeting, he didn’t question authority. After all, he had to be there to hear the reading of that proclamation. What proclamation? “I didn’t even ask,” he said. And that’s how Rusin, a 23-year veteran of the Buffalo Grove Fire Department, was lured to Village Hall for a surprise ceremony in which he was named the 2011 Firefighter of the Year. Rusin, a member of the department’s honor guard, also represents Buffalo Grove as a participant in the Pink Heals campaign, a national program that raises awareness and shows support to women affected by cancer. Rusin returned …
Joe LoVerde
7:45 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
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