Our View: Seeking to share good news all year long

Ryder Sorensen (left) and his 9-year-old twin brother Brayden Sorensen of New Lenox lost both of their parents in 2021. The Moms Club of New Lenox are working to make sure the boys have a happy holiday season and the monetary resources they need now and in the future.

Welcome to 2022.

With growing COVID-19 cases, and the many troubles that go with it, the new year certainly looks a lot like 2021, or 2020 even.

But not all is bad news in our part of the world. In the past year, Shaw Local News Network newspapers across northern Illinois published dozens of feel good articles that give us faith in our neighbors and our future. We share some of those stories here.

⋅⋅⋅

The Moms Club of New Lenox supports stay-at-home moms and gives back to its community each year during the holidays. This year, the club lended a helping hand to the 9-year-old twin boys of one of its most supportive members.

Four years ago, Melanie Mouk of New Lenox, mother Ryder and Brayden Sorensen, joined the organization.

“As a mom, she was just very loving and caring and the boys were just her top priority,” Gretchen Valenta, the Moms Club president said. “For every birthday, every holiday, she would be just above and beyond for them.”

Melanie’s husband Brandon Sorenson, 45, died in his sleep on Feb. 23 of a heart attack, Valenta said. Then Melanie, 46, had a stroke or a heart attack on Nov. 19 and died Dec. 10, Valenta said. Ryder and Brayden’s aunt is their foster mom, Valenta said.

Valenta said she started the “Twin Boys Lose Both Parents Within Same Year” GoFundMe page on a Sunday night. By noon the next Wednesday, donations surpassed $21,000. It’s now at about $42,000. The twins meant the world to their parents and the club wants to help ensure the boys are helped now and in the future, Valenta said.

“That’s what we’re here for – to support and accommodate stay-at-home mothers,” Valenta said.

⋅⋅⋅

Former special education teacher Jaimie Valentini said she saw a need in the community that wasn’t being met.

The Elburn resident has felt passionately that individuals and families impacted by disability should have a sense of belonging and connection with their communities.

So, Valentini founded Rising Lights Project, a nonprofit organization that is “dedicated to creating environments for individuals impacted by disability to learn, laugh, thrive and engage with the Fox Valley community.”

The group’s mission is to educate and encourage communities so they can “clearly see the ability in disability and create new opportunities to keep those with disability engaged and connected,” according to the organization’s website.

⋅⋅⋅

La Salle-Peru High School graduate Lucas Barry hosted his second annual charity livestream to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital on Dec. 23. Barry was encouraged by the support from 2020 and used this as motivation to host a charity basketball game last summer to raise even more for the children’s hospital and he more recently donated gifts to the Oglesby Police Department to be given away.

⋅⋅⋅

The 39th annual Operation St. Nick Auction in Morris in December was an unprecedented success, organizers said. The auction brought in $161,233 between 8 a.m. and noon, surpassing the past high milestones of $152,000.

“The Grundy County community gets behind our mission and donates, which makes it possible for us to do so much for the needy families with children,” Operation St. Nick Director Joe Schmitz said.

Schmitz said that in addition to the money brought in from the sale of the items, two anonymous $20,000 donations were given to Operation St. Nick.

⋅⋅⋅

The Dixon Police Department’s annual Shop with a Cop saw 54 kids head to Walmart for a day of gift shopping. Through the donations from local individuals and organizations, each shopper had $125 to spend on gifts for themselves and their families.

⋅⋅⋅

The Will County Habitat for Humanity held a home dedication ceremony in November and celebrated its first home in the Elwood Community.

Will County, the Illinois Housing Development Authority and G&W Electric provided funding. Volunteers from G&W Electric worked on the home every weekend for a year. Will County Habitat for Humanity is now constructing two duplex units and is planning for six more, thanks to a partnership with Will County.

⋅⋅⋅

Andrew Golinski of Yorkville Boy Scout Troop 40 recently attained the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest attainable honor in the BSA. Golinski is a senior at Sandwich High School, where he plays baseball and basketball.

Golinski has served his troop in a variety of roles, demonstrating his leadership skills and commitment to the community. Through his Eagle Scout Leadership Project, Golinski planned and managed the efforts of 20 volunteers who performed more than 174 hours of work on the installation of six bat houses for the National Trust for Historic Preservation at the Farnsworth House in Plano.

The bat houses will provide a safe, warm place for female bats to raise their pups, as well as provide an environmentally safe way to protect Farnsworth House visitors from pest insects such as mosquitoes, moths and beetles without using harmful pesticides.

⋅⋅⋅

Diane Raycraft downplays the cards she creates monthly for seniors living at Hearthstone Communities by Heritage in Woodstock, saying she’s not very crafty.

But to the seniors, the cards – all signed simply from “A friend” – mean someone is thinking about them. And that can mean everything.

“She has been such a silent strength to our residents,” said Sandee Christiansen, life enrichment manager for Hearthstone Communities by Heritage.

Since March 2009, Raycraft has sat down monthly in her Crystal Lake home to create homemade cards for Hearthstone residents. For Christmas, she also makes fleece-tie blankets to give as gifts to the residents.

It’s all in honor of her late mother, Angeline, who lived at Hearthstone before her death in 2012, just before her 95th birthday.

“I found my mother was always cold and liked to have a blanket in her lap to keep her warm,” Raycraft said. “She was such a kind, sweet and crafty woman. She could knit, crochet, cook, bake and do anything. She was really something.”

⋅⋅⋅

We will continue to share similar stories with readers throughout 2022, and hope you help us. If you have a story we should cover, please tell your local newspaper’s reporters and editors.

Have a great 2022.