THE WEEK >
Meeting
Homewood Beautification Committee will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 2, in village hall, 2020 Chestnut Road.
Stuff to do
Tuesday, Jan. 2
Winter Break Teen Reading Challenge. Homewood Public Library, 17917 Dixie Highway, will continue its teen reading challenge all day from Jan. 2 through Jan. 9. Open to anyone aged 13 to 18. Participants can read during school break and log time spent. Each hour will earn students a raffle ticket for a chance to win a raffle basket. Read at least seven hours to be eligible for the $10 Barnes & Noble gift card drawing at the end of the challenge. Register here.
Wednesday, Jan. 3
Volunteer Camp: Lend a Helping Hand. The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District will host an opportunity for kids 11 through 14 to give back to their community after the holidays and before returning to school. The camp provides an opportunity to explore the world of volunteerism, leadership and personal growth while having a fun and enriching experience. Organizations include the South Suburban Humane Society, Cancer Support Center and Respond Now. The camp will be from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Jan. 3 through Jan. 5 at Irwin Community Center, 18120 Highland Ave. The fee is $50 for district residents and $60 for nonresidents. Click here to register.
Camp Frosty. Kids can spend winter break at the Irwin Community Center, 18120 Highland Ave. in Homewood, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 3 through Jan. 5 and get to participate in group activities, crafts and more. For kids aged 5 to 11. Daily fee is $42 for district residents, $52 for nonresidents. Click here to register.
Camp Frosty After Camp. Designed for children who can’t get enough of camp, for children with working parents or parents who just need some extra time to run a few holiday errands. Runs from 3 to 6 p.m. Jan. 3 through Jan. 5 at the Irwin Community Center, 18120 Highland Ave. in Homewood. The fee is $18 per day for district residents, $23 for nonresidents. Register here.
Thursday, Jan. 4
Fit Body Challenge. The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District will host a 10-week fitness challenge at 6 to 7 p.m. from Jan. 4 to March 7 at the H-F Racquet & Fitness Club, 2920 183rd St. in Homewood. Challengers will meet weekly for weigh-ins and participate in a total body workout with a certified personal trainer. At each training session participants will receive a workout for the week and a healthy recipe. For ages 18 and up. The fee is $90 for district residents and $110 for nonresidents. There is a $20 discount for club members. Click here to register.
Friday, Jan. 5
Wonka Party. Homewood Public Library, 17917 Dixie Highway, will host a party to celebrate the release of the new film, “Wonka,” for kids in third through sixth grades. There will be games, chocolate treats and a chance to find a Golden Ticket. Register here.
Sunday, Jan. 7
Men’s basketball leagues. Five-on-five basketball leagues start Jan. 7 and run through March 17 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. in the H-F Sports Complex, 18211 S. Aberdeen Ave., Homewood. League play consists of one game per week. The season is 11 weeks, which includes one single-elimination postseason tournament. A monetary prize is awarded to the top team in the regular season and to the playoff champion. For ages 19 and up. Team fee is $760 for district residents, $800 for nonresidents. Click here to register.
News & Notices
“Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” at Freedom Hall. Tickets go on sale Jan. 2 for a performance of a play based on the popular children’s book by Mo Willems. There will be two shows on Feb. 13, one at 9:30 a.m. and one at 1 p.m., at Freedom Hall in Park Forest. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at FreedomHall.org
Sign up for MLK Day of Service. Flossmoor invites local businesses, non-profits, volunteer groups, neighborhood clubs and associations, friends and neighbors to help make a difference in the community by volunteering for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 15. This is the 10th year for the Day of Service and organizers hope to grow the number of volunteers. To see the list of projects that need volunteers or donations, visit the Day of Service web page or contact Stephanie Wright at 708-335-5472 or [email protected].
Recycle holiday lights. Anyone who finds broken holiday lights as they take down holiday decorations can put the cast-offs in containers located in Homewood at the H-F Racquet & Fitness Club, 2920 183rd St., and Irwin Center, 18120 Highland Ave. or in Flossmoor at Goldberg Center, 3301 Flossmoor Road; Park Place, 2449 Flossmoor Road; and Irons Oaks, 20000 Western Ave. in Olympia Fields.
Holiday tree recycling. Trees with decorations removed can be taken to Irons Oaks at the Vollmer Road lot, 2453 Vollmer Road, anytime through Jan. 20. Stack trees neatly with the trunks pointed towards the parking lot. Donated trees will be chipped for use on the trails at Irons Oaks. No yard waste. No trees will be accepted after Jan. 20.
< THE WEEK
- Kwanzaa night 3: Evita McNeil-Dobson talks community collective responsibility (Dec. 31).
- Wright’s last book traces history of Egyptian Trail (Dec. 31).
- Amabel Crawford lights the Kwanzaa candle on the 2nd night (Dec. 30).
- SD161 awards faculty and celebrates administrator’s achievements (Dec. 30).
- First Irons Oaks holiday trail walk a hit despite soggy conditions (Dec. 29).
- Flossmoor to celebrate its centennial in 2024 (Dec. 29).
- Tickets for ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus’ at Freedom Hall on sale Jan. 2 (Dec. 29).
- District 233 approves 2023 levy and abatement (Dec. 28).
- Homewood capital projects to move ahead with surplus fund transfer (Dec. 28).
- Advocate opens new mental health center (Dec. 28).
- Homewood cheer team wins big in Florida (Dec. 27).
- Gingerbread day in Flossmoor provides holiday wonder (Dec. 27).
- Flossmoor parade lights up village neighborhoods (Dec. 26).
- Winfrey sisters mark two decades of holiday charity work (Dec. 26).
- Homewood Chevy gives new car to brave mom for Christmas (Dec. 26).
- IPO accepting applications for Rising Star Showcase (Dec. 25).
LOCAL NEWS NEWS
Chronicle still going after 9 1/2 years. The Chronicle will be celebrating an anniversary this year, a decade of covering local news. In June 2014, we published our first story in what was then the Homewood Chronicle, a digital-only publication with a staff of one volunteer journalist.
Later that year, Marilyn Thomas offered to help by covering school districts, then when Tom Houlihan joined the team a couple months later, we became the Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle, and that’s the name we incorporated with in April 2015.
Chronicle still printing after 8 years. In a Curious City story, WBEZ reports on the repurposing of newspaper boxes in the city as their use as part of the distribution of print newspapers has declined.
“News coverage in Chicago has shifted to favor digital formats. While Chicago is something of a journalistic oasis in Illinois, with dozens of independent outlets covering local issues, fewer and fewer have a consistent print presence,” the article states.
The Chronicle remains one of those print holdouts. We published our first print edition in December 2015 after receiving numerous requests from readers for something they could hold in their hands and read cover to cover. We received donations from readers to help pay the printing costs of that first edition, and advertising revenue has kept it going.
For about the first year, we delivered the paper the old fashioned way, by hand. We had a team of volunteers we affectionately referred to as The Deliverators (a term borrowed from Neal Stephenson’s novel “Snow Crash”), who walked around their neighborhoods and local business districts, hand-delivering copies of each new edition.
Tom and Patty Houlihan would get up early to hand papers to commuters at the Flossmoor train station. Marilyn and Donald Thomas did the same at the Homewood station.
It was fun. I ran into one deliverator recently, Jennifer Molski, and we reminisced about the delights of getting the paper to readers. It was a chance to get out in the fresh air, get some good exercise and say hello to neighbors and business people.
For the first few years, we also used the two newspaper boxes on the west side of the Homewood train station with permission from the village to make our monthly print edition available to commuters.
Those boxes and the larger set on the east side of the station were built by a Homewood Public Works employee, Chris DeWall. They were removed in preparation for the station renovation project.
We weren’t allowed to use the boxes on the east side. Village officials said they were worried the print copy of the Chronicle would give others the idea, and lots of unsolicited material would show up.
That set of boxes eventually was converted to a Little Free Library curated by Bellwood Public Library Director Amy Crump (who happens to be a Chronicle volunteer and my wife) so we didn’t mind.
Village Manager Napoleon Haney said he thought the newspaper boxes could be restored when the renovation project is finished, so it’s possible the Chronicle and free books will again be available at the train station some day.
National attention to local news stories. We didn’t get a story submitted for the New York Times recognition of local news but I’m delighted to see that our friends at the Lansing Journal did, and I’m glad to see the Times use its vast reach to shine some light on the work of news organizations across the country that are working hard to fill the chasm left by the ongoing collapse of legacy newspapers.
What 2023 story or stories from the Chronicle do you think would have been worth sending to the Times? We’ll post a readers’ list in next week’s newsletter. Send headlines or links to [email protected].