Saturday, May 11 will be a part of the annual Spring accelerated activities schedule in our communities. The possibilities and demands are great. Finding ways to participate in many as possible offers challenges.
For example the choices and options include:
• The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will hold its annual food drive, the biggest one-day drive in the United States. The need is great and the drive will help, however, the need will continue. We can contribute. Place your big-item donations near your mailbox;
• Clean-up functions will include Batavia and Yorkville: Batavia has held the Fox River clean-up in previous years. Yorkville will hold its first one. Click here for information. Batavia’s Fox River clean-up will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Meeting places will include the Blackard Skate site on the west side of the Fox River just south of the main east-west thoroughfare, Wilson Avenue. Bring boots and gloves.
• May 11 the Batavia American Legion Post 504 will collect for Poppy Days, as well the day prior and the day following, at Batavia Apple Villa; Briana’s Restaurant; Lumes Restaurant; Pal Joey’s; Batavia 7-11 on Wilson; and will be at Jewel-Osco May 18 and 19. The Legion will celebrate its 100th charter membership next year.
• Friends of the Fox River representatives will participate, just as they did in Aurora for the Kiwanis Club of Aurora clean-up in conjunction with other groups. Friends of the Fox River wants us the circle Saturday, Sept. 21 on the calendar. The hard-working organization’s representatives will coordinate the first clean-up of the entire Fox River from Waukesha, Wis. to Ottawa. President Gary Swick tells us that the organization will seek to counter the future placement of oil pipelines.
• The Aurora Public Library (APL) Board of Directors met Wednesday, April 24. The Board has been cited by the State Attorney General’s office for its failure to discuss only permitted issues in executive session under the guidance of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Several days following the meeting Michaela Haberkern, executive director, said, “Our plan is to be careful. The Board voted to release executive session minutes for inspection (at the Santori Library). We will have an attorney at future closed sessions and not get off topic. We will have more training.”
Carter Crane/The Voice
• The Santori Library was host to an interesting discussion last week on Mexican boxcar communities by Dr. Antonio Delgado.
Dr. Delgado shared his research on the boxcar communities and their development as a result of Mexican immigration.
The presentation showed the impact and legacy left by Mexican railroad workers in the Chicagoland area and included examples of vibrant cultural contributions and the injustices they suffered.
Attendees learned about this unique facet of early 20th Century history and how these workers and their families lived in railroad boxcars on railway property, and what happened to those communities once the railroads were completed. These missing pages of American history exemplify the vital contributions of Mexican immigrant workers to the development of Chicago and the Midwest.
Dr. Delgado immigrated with his family as a small boy to Chicago from Mexico and became interested in the boxcar communities when hearing stories from his grandmother. Delgado was dean of Chicago City Colleges and served in the administration of two Chicago mayors, Harold Washington and Richard M. Daily.
He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in urban planning/public policy analysis, and specializes in public policy as it impacts minorities in the United States.