Smart Living Weekly July 16, 2020

Sm mart a L iving ma Weekly Your Better Quality of Life Magazine • Rockford Region/Beloit 95¢ • July 16, 2020

™

Right in Our Region

Play Some Golf, Help Your Community

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Best of Life Information for Our Region’s Residents & Visitors Proudly Serving the Needs of 326,000 Neighbors - For Your Home, Health & Fun!

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AFTER

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In This Issue Right in Our Region ........................Cover & p. 16 Play Some Golf to Help Our Community Inspiration & Worship ......................................12 Our Global Family Restaurant of the Week ................................... 26 Hearthrock Cafe: Now Better Than Ever

Smart L iving ™

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Bill Hughes Executive Editor/Web Editor Chris Linden Managing Editor Lindsey Gapen Lukas Assistant Managing Editor Jermaine Pigee Editor Emeritus Janine Pumilia Multimedia Editor Sara Myers Graphics Director Blake Nunes Graphic Designer Samantha Behling Contributing Writer Peggy Werner, Paula Kalivoda Furniss General Sales Manager Brent Hughes Sales Manager Brad Hughes Advertising Sales Representatives Brian Hughes, Jeremy Jones, Nita Lasky, Sherri Saleh Administration & Circulation Manager Lisa Hughes Distribution Kelly Fairbairn Website www.SmartLivingWeekly.com Published by Hughes Media Corp.

222 Seventh St., Rockford, IL, 61104 (815) 316-2300, Fax: (815) 316-2301 lhughes@northwestquarterly.com

Smart Living Weekly.

Copyright 2020 by Hughes Media Corp., 222 Seventh St., Rockford, IL, 61104. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photograph or illustration without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

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No Backsliding!

A

t this moment, our region shows stable rates for COVID-19. This is great news for our health and our local economy! But as other states are learning the hard way, we need to safeguard our progress diligently lest we backslide to a point that costs us dearly.

From what I’ve observed, most of we common-sense Illinoisans are doing the right things. We’re resuming our normal routines in safer ways. We’re neither pretending the virus is a myth nor hiding under our beds.

While most activities we enjoy are permitted again, the tried and true habits of mask wearing, hand washing and distancing must be our norm, if we’re to deny the virus its legs.

A second shutdown would be devastating to local businesses. If we care about them, we’ll support them – safely. We’ll also demand they protect us in return. If employees with direct customer contact don’t care enough about me to wear a mask, I’ll shop or dine elsewhere.

We’ve done a great job of bending our curve and we don’t want to be the next Florida, Arizona, Texas, etc. Nearly all states are seeing a viral uptick, including Wisconsin.

Whether we love or hate Gov. J.B. Pritzker, he’s made it clear he will impose restrictions again if there’s a sustained rise in our positivity rate or COVID-related hospital admissions. Let’s don’t tempt him.

Rockford drive-up testing sites at both Auburn High School and U of I College of Medicine are open and you don’t have to be symptomatic to get a test.

All four Illinois regions (we’re North Central) have earned a Stage 4 opening. What does that mean? It doesn’t mean behaving as if the pandemic is over. It means bars and restaurants are open, schools and childcare programs can open and gatherings of fewer than 50 people are OK. State parks are open. Golf, pools, boating, camping and outdoor spectator sports are open. Manufacturing and “non-essential” businesses are open, as well as health clubs, barbershops, salons and other personal care services.

Retail stores also are open and can really use our patronage about now.

So let’s go have fun and let’s go shopping … safely! ❚ Janine Pumilia SLW Editor

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I  W

A Global Family

O

ne of the thrilling things about Christian holidays is knowing that millions of people are celebrating Jesus Christ simultaneously around the world.

Christ beckons all people to be part of his family. There are no exceptions.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:18-20, NIV. There are about 2.3 billion Christians worldwide – roughly a third of the global population. (Pew Research, 2015.) While Islam is the fastest growing religion, Christianity remains by far the largest and is growing fast in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in a remarkable global shift.

Whereas 80 percent of all Christians lived in North America or Europe just one century ago, today more live in the global south than the global north, for the first time in more than 1,000 years. (Pew). Christianity is dwindling in Europe and in the USA among white non-Hispanics.

Immigration has slowed the decline of U.S. churches. Of the 43 million U.S. residents who were born in another country, 74 percent are Christian. Nearly half of the world’s 214 million refugees are Christian.

“As recently as 1996, white Christians still made up nearly two-thirds (65%) of the U.S. public ... Today, only 43% of Americans identify as white and Christian – and only 30% as white and Protestant,” says the Public Religion Research Institute.

By 2030, more Christians will be worshipping in China on any given Sunday than in the U.S., reports Purdue University Professor Fenggang Yang, author of “Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule.”

One in four Christians lives in Africa.

We’re prone to identify ourselves first by our nationality or human family. Jesus would have us identify first by our faith family. And it’s a very big family, indeed. ❚ – Janine Pumilia

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R  O R

Play Some Golf, Help Your Community

By Janine Pumilia

H

aving fun is good, but having fun that benefits your community is much better. That’s why the Rockford Cosmopolitan Club will proceed with its 29th Annual Golf Classic on Aug. 14, says Eric Magnuson, event chair. Local non-profits have had to cancel most fundraisers this year due to COVID-19 and need community support more than ever.

“Being outside playing golf is safer than most events because you can social distance from all the other players except the one in your cart,” says Magnuson.

“At first we wondered if we could go forward with it this year, but then we decided, ‘We can do this!’”

Last season, the club raised more than $94,000 for local charities. It gave $20,000 to the diabetic outreach program at Crusader Community Health and has donated more than $600,000 to Crusader

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Clinic over the past 20 years.

The club has a reputation for putting on an exceptionally fun golf outing.

“Golfers of all skill levels always have such a good time,” says Magnuson.

“But the main reason we do it is to give back to our community.”

The event will take place at both Aldeen Golf Course, 1900 Reid Farm Road, and Forest Hills Country Club, 5135 Forest Hills Road. Participants can choose the course they wish to play when they register online. Each course can accommodate up to 144 golfers.

The golf classic will begin at 11 a.m., followed by lunch, and will end with an After Party with free tap beer and a cash bar, an hors d’oeuvre buffet, results, awards and raffles at the Aldeen Golf Course pavilion.

New this year is a special $500,000

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Hole-in-One prize. For $5, participants can enter a trial event that will narrow down hole-in-one competitors to 20 people. Before the After Party, everyone will gather to watch those 20 golfers try their best to score a hole-in-one that could earn them a $500,000 annuity. This is funded through a policy with a local insurance company.

“We wanted to do something big and exciting for golfers,” says Magnuson. “It definitely generates a lot of attention and

R  O R will be fun for everyone to watch.”

Along with lunch and an afternoon of golf with a cart included, golfers will receive golf balls, a T-shirt, time on the practice range and free beverages on the course as well as the hors d’oeuvre-buffet After Party.

Cosmopolitan International is a notfor-profit civic organization. Founded in 1918, it has 1,500 members in 47 clubs in the U.S. and Canada. Rockford has the biggest chapter of all, with more than 225 members.

“I think our club is so successful because it offers a lot of flexibility, with no attendance required for events,” says Magnuson. “It’s a good group of people who find camaraderie and share the same focus. Some don’t have a lot of spare time

to give, but if we all help out where we can, we can still accomplish a lot for the community. We strike a nice balance of holding fun events while keeping our focus on giving back.”

The club has been particularly successful at recruiting younger members who enjoy networking and want to be involved in the community. Tom Graceffa is the incoming president of the Rockford Cosmopolitan Club for 2020-2021.

The international club’s primary focus is raising millions of dollars for diabetes research and treatment. It works with PAWS Saving Lives, a program that pairs diabetes alert dogs with people who need them most. These highly trained dogs recognize changes in blood sugar by the smell of a person’s breath and touch the person to signal when something is wrong. In some cases, they touch a 911 pad if a person living alone becomes unconscious. Grant applications can be made online at rfdcosmo.org.

Last year the club not only donated

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$20,000 to Crusader Community Health, but also presented grants ranging from $850 to $6,000 to 17 organizations, including Boy Scouts of America, Boys & Girls Club of Rockford, Northern Illinois Food Bank, Rock House Kids, Barbara Olson School of Hope, Center for Sight & Hearing, Gigi’s Playhouse, Midway Village Museum, Paws Saving Lives, Rockford Rescue Mission, Shelter Care Ministries, The Literacy Council, Walter Lawson Children’s Home, the 17th Circuit Therapy Dog Volunteers and KenRock, Northwest and Patriots Gateway community centers.

The cost to participate in the golf event is $660 per foursome, $760 per foursome with a tee sign or $165 per individual.

The club guarantees a rescheduled event or refund to participants, should cancelation occur due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Learn more and register online at rfdcosmo.org. ❚

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WDL

Hearthrock Café is Back, & Better than Ever

By Peggy Werner

T

odd Cooper, head chef at Benson Stone Company’s Hearthrock Café, used the COVID-19 shutdown to improve his menu, install new kitchen equipment, deep clean, resurface the café floor and do lots of planning.

“The nice thing about time off is you can do things you need to do during regular business hours in a more relaxed way,” he says. “You can tackle the tough

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jobs that are necessary, while thinking about cooking and serving, which is what we all really enjoy.”

A new panini press and flat grill made it possible to add four new sandwiches to the menu, including The Cuban, Tuna Melt, Cordon Bleu and a mushroom and muenster Cheese Roast Beef sandwich.

Cooper also is working on perfecting an adult grilled cheese made with smoked gouda and muenster cheeses and a special sauce. Customers choose their breads and add-ons, like tomato, bacon or mushrooms.

Breakfast items, including bacon and eggs, are also new.

“In recent years, I’ve had so many requests for bacon and eggs and now we have the capability to do it,” he says.

When the abrupt shutdown in March was extended through April, Cooper made good use of his food

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inventory. What he couldn’t save or freeze, he sold to employees who were faced with empty meat counters and high grocery prices.

Then he went to work “gutting” the café to do a deep clean and make improvements.

Business is booming, he says.

“By the first of July, every table was filled for lunch.”

Hearthrock Café is open from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. ❚

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