Mother Nature lent a hand as rain stopped just as the Wauconda Park District’s Earth Day Collection and Giveaway began on Friday.
JoAnn Freeman, the Park District’s marketing and graphics coordinator, said she was given, “the opportunity to create and develop an Earth Day event … early in my employment here,” and she went about it with the help of numerous volunteers.
“Wauconda is known for volunteerism,” Freeman said. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without volunteers.”
Village Trustee Tom Shaw unloaded recyclables from the back of the vehicle of Julie Kendrick of Wauconda, who dropped off a laser printer and assorted cables.
“It’s so hard sometimes to find a place to recycle big items,” Kendrick said. “I was happy to find one here, and it’s handy and I’m delighted to take part.”
Part of the event took place in the parking lot of the Wauconda Park District Community Center, where drivers lined up to unload their recyclables.
“I probably brought … about 13 computers, and then 55 hard drives, and some batteries, tons of wire … a bunch of copper,” said Matt Buisson of Wauconda, who added he felt lighter after dropping off all the equipment.
“My wife wanted to weigh the house before we came here, but I didn’t get a chance to do that,” he quipped. “It feels great.”
Activities inside included crafts, and seed and sapling giveaways. Before people entered the building, they could get free popcorn from a festive red cart, courtesy of The Mulch Center of Deerfield and Volo.
Scott Uglinica, production supervisor for The Mulch Center, said, “Giving back is kind of what we do. We recycle unwanted lawn materials, turn it into usable stuff and just give back all the way around. It’s that simple.”
Indoors, at the Wauconda Area Public Library table, Kelly Marsch, the library’s public services associate, helped crafters make spinning tops with used CDs. Stories and music are mostly streamed now, Marsch said, so what better way to recycle a CD than to color one side and then make a spinning fidget toy?
“Some of them (CDs) have music from (library) storytime,” Marsch said. “We’re kind of moving away from using the CDs and more streaming, so people aren’t checking them out as much anymore (compact discs), so I was like, ‘What else can we do?’
“When a kid looks at one of these, you go, ‘What is this?’ and (the children) go, ‘Well, it’s for crafts,” Marsch said. “It’s also kind of a throwback toy. It’s something fun. It truly is a recycled craft.”
At the library table were Melissa Kolba of Wauconda and daughters Eleanor, 5, and Meredith, 8. Melissa Kolba held a free Swamp oak sapling the family plans to plant at a campsite north of Rockford, where she said, “It floods a lot. So, swamp oaks are good. How exciting is that?”
Andrea Pigford of Wauconda and daughter Kylie, 6, viewed free packaged seeds like carrots and annual flowers.
“She loves coming here, and we learn about the plants,” Andrea Pigford said.
Anahita Safavi, 13, of Island Lake, a member of Girl Scout Troop 1998 of Northern Illinois, staffed a Wauconda Lions Club table.
“One person can make a difference,” she said. “Even like when no one’s watching you, you can still go up and make a difference in someone else’s life and love one another.”
Wauconda Lions Club director Ginger Irwin and Andrea Conner of Wauconda also staffed the table, where donated eyeglasses and hearing aids were accepted.
“One person’s eyeglasses can go to somebody else who needs them in another country,” Irwin said.
Wearing a Wauconda Lions Club shirt was Conner, who is legally blind. Volunteering, she said, is “very rewarding.
“When I first started losing my vision … I reached out to the Lions Club for equipment that was going to help me function … and they helped me,” she said.
