Teens Giving Back Across Southland Saturday

Charitable efforts conceived and run by teens are happening in Orland Park, Palos Hills, Tinley Park, Frankfort, Mokena and New Lenox on Saturday for Global Youth Service Day.

Teens across the south suburbs will be taking part in an array of charitable service efforts Saturday. Staff at The Bridge Teen Center in Orland Park decided to put a challenge to local teens not just to participate in service projects, but also to design and oversee them too. With 27 projects happening within 50 miles of Chicago, including 11 in the south suburbs, Global Youth Service Day will go into action Saturday. “I’m really excited for such a collaborative effort,” said Jenn Jones, program associate at The Bridge. “It’s really been interesting to see them decide how to take charge, cut aspects, or add them, and craft their focus onto a main point, a main goal they want to achieve. They are very organized. We hope this will be the …

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Township Teens Surpass Resident’s Food Pantry Fundraising Challenge

A Cook County sheriff’s deputy put a call out for people to raise $250 and he’d match $500 for a donation to the local food pantry. A handful of Orland Township teens raised double the money requested.

Terrence Camodeca thought he would add a twist to a yearly donation he makes to the Orland Township Food Pantry. “The news of the world is usually bad, so we need to create some good news for a change,” said the Orland Park resident, who uses his overtime pay working as a Cook County sheriff’s deputy for the contribution. Camodeca put out a call that if young people in the area got together and raised $250, he would pay $500 of his own money in addition to their raised funds, all going to the food pantry. “The idea is to help them achieve bigger goals through motivation,” he said. “Two generations working together for a common goal for all of us is very important.” SouthtownStar columnist Phil Kadner wrote about Camodeca’s offer, and 12 …

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Athlete of the Month: Andrew's Friel Enjoys the Last Laugh

Watch: Andrew freshman Caily Friel recreates her state-finalist performance in the 100-yard breaststroke in a Patch video.

Kelly Matusik created the environment. Caily Friel created the excitement. Friel, an Andrew High School freshman, powered to a 12th-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke event at the IHSA girls state swimming meet. She recorded a season-best and school-record time of 1:06.01 in the prelims on Friday, Nov. 16, at Evanston Township High School. Then, she was clocked in 1:06.31 on Saturday, Nov. 17, while becoming the first Andrew freshman to reach the girls swimming state finals since Olympic silver medalist Christine Magnuson at the turn of the new millennium. Friel is recognized today for her fast work as Southland Patch’s Athlete of the Month for November. She started shaving precious seconds off her time in the 100 breast as soon as …

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John Parli Photography

2:49 pm on Monday, December 17, 2012

Great write-up! Such an amazing achievement by Caily! Well done!!! -John   more ›

Editor's Notebook

Volunteers Go Door-to-Door Saturday for Tinley Girl's Food Drive

The Fourth Annual Emiyah and Friends Food Drive will collect donations for Together We Cope by visiting homes Saturday. But that's just the start for the benefit's 10-year-old creator. Find out other ways you can help her effort.

Emiyah Twietmeyer might only be 10, but she has more charity food drives under her belt than most people twice her age. But this fifth-grader at Christa McAuliffe Elementary School doesn't get hung up on age, whether it's her own or other people's. She just wants to help the less fortunate by working with Together We Cope, a local nonprofit group that serves families and individuals in crisis. READ: Food Pantry Coordinators Hungry for Help, Donations "I have learned that age doesn’t matter," she wrote in a flyer this year for her Fourth Annual Emiyah and Friends Food Drive (you can view it in this article's media gallery). "You can help others whether you are 7 or 43 or 100. So, I started talking to other kids and adults about helping with…

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40-Year Metra Commuter has Nostalgic Last Ride

An Orland Park woman recently took her final Metra ride home after four decades of spending time on the rails.

Cathy Lia was just an Oak Lawn teenager when she started taking Metra to her job in downtown Chicago in 1972. The Orland Park resident stepped off a Metra train at the 80th Avenue station in Tinley Park for the last time last Wednesday. She was greeted by her husband, three shouting daughters and a handful of other relatives with flowers and posters as she ended her 40-year career as a commuter. Daughter Christine Pieper came in from Wayne, Ill., to greet her mom one last time, as did daughter Erin Johnson, who only had to come from Manhattan, Ill. “This was my last ride,” she said after getting hugs all around by her loving family. Lia is trading her job of 28 years at a Loop law firm for a position as baby sitter for her granddaughter …

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Carrie Frillman

5:17 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012

Thanks for commenting, Mrs. 406. And a hearty "Congratulations," to you, Cathy! Thank you for sharing your story with us :)   more ›

Volunteer Vows to Help 'So Long as God Gives me the Breath'

Area resident Rose Walsh has spent decades helping others, starting with her father, who was often sick throughout her childhood. If you ask her, she says she is the one who reaps the benefits.

Rose Walsh is on a simple, yet dedicated journey. When she comes across people she can help, she does so. Walsh is a regular volunteer for area churches, Orland Township and for anyone who needs a hand. “They give me more than I give them, but everyone tells me that’s not true,” Walsh said. “But it is that way for me. It’s just such an exciting thing when you know you’re doing something for someone, and they need you.” Sign up to receive a free, daily e-newsletter from Tinley Park Patch. The 76-year-old has been a resident of Orland Park since 1972. She's built a busy schedule of volunteer work throughout the area. She helps with Orland Township’s immunization program, making records of shots after people receive them. A member of St. …

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Looking to be Inspired Today by Good News?

Browse through Patch's Greatest Person of the Southland gallery. These features will reaffirm your faith in your neighbors and fellow man.

Local Business Owner Steps up to the Plate After Coach Scams Youth Baseball Team

If not for benevolent spirits like that of local business owner, James Garner, a Hobart, IN, traveling baseball team may not have a season this year. The team's coach scammed parents for nearly $8,000 before flying the coop.

Local Woman Kick-Starts Effort to Get a Goat for Haitians

This year for their annual Vacation Bible School mission project, Most Holy Redeemer Parish chose to raise money to buy a family in Haiti a goat. Help them reach their $150 goal.

After Arlene Astrowski's son returned home from a Haiti mission trip and a USA Weekend article about donating to relief efforts after the 2010 earthquake came across her desk, she knew she had to be involved. The Tinley Park resident has worked as director of religious education for Most Holy Redeemer Parish in Evergreen Park for 18 years. This year marks the 10th year the church has participated in Vacation Bible School, and to add more meaning, Astrowski attaches a special mission project. For the 2012 project, the parish will raise $150 to sponsor a goat for a family living in Haiti through Norwich, Conn.-based Haitian Health Foundation. "My son got home from his mission trip and described the devastation. At the same time, I saw the …

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Tinley Business Owner Steps up to the Plate After Coach Scams Youth Baseball Team

If not for benevolent spirits like that of local business owner, James Garner, a Hobart, IN, traveling baseball team may not have a season this year. The team's coach scammed parents for nearly $8,000 before flying the coop.

Ten-year-old Matthew Benton says that when he steps into the batter's box, he knows God wants him to be a Major League Baseball player. But two weeks ago, he wasn't even certain he'd be able to play on his youth traveling team. The baseball-obsessed Hobart, IN, player's world shattered when his coach scammed his team for thousands of dollars, possibly eliminating the season. Then on Sunday, the Deep River Devils played—and won—their first game. It would not be so if not for the generosity of others, like Jim Garner, owner of the Sports Station in Tinley Park. "I heard about it, and I knew I had to do something," Garner, 32, of Frankfort, said. "You just feel bad for the kids. They were left with no direction. This guy was really running …

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