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Wednesday, December 25, 2013
LUCKY 13 • SPORTS, B1
HOUSE FIRE
NIU seniors aim to hit program record for wins
No injuries reported in DeKalb fire NEWS, A3
Pastors offer words of love, hope Church leaders find many ways to explain the message of Christmas on eve of holiday By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – For the first time, First Lutheran Church held two Christmas Eve services Tuesday at a barn. Pastor Janet Hunt said she bought her first pair of snowpants since she was 7 years old for the service at Johnson Fami-
ly Farm, 1765 W. State St. in Sycamore. Hunt wanted to portray the birth of Jesus Christ, even though the Bible doesn’t explicitly say Jesus was born in a barn, she said. “Wherever he was born, maybe at a hospital or homeless shelter, we don’t know, but it teaches us to watch for Christ coming to places where you don’t expect
it,” Hunt said. That’s the message Hunt wanted to tell her parishioners this holiday season. Other local pastors chose to stick to scripture to tell stories of love and hope. Jason Draper, senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, delivered his sermon called “Divine Paradox” at 6 p.m. Tuesday talking
about the paradoxes in Luke 2, the section of the bible which tells the story of Jesus’ birth. Draper listed seven paradoxes involving Jesus’ birth, including that Jesus was born as a king in the slums of Bethlehem rather than in Jerusalem, where kings are usually born, he said. Another paradox is that Christ’s birth was announced
by shepherds, the lowest class in society at the time, Draper said. “[Shepherds] couldn’t testify in court. They were recluses, excluded from society,” Draper said. “If a king was born, and [someone was needed to] testify he was born, no human being would pick shepherds.”
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See PASTORS, page A5
Insurance website put to test
Sharing spirit of
CHRISTMAS
As deadline nears, numbers increase By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press CHICAGO – The government’s retooled health care website was put to its biggest test yet as record numbers of Americans rushed to beat Tuesday’s extended deadline for signing up for insurance. After a disastrous, glitchfilled rollout in October, HealthCare.gov, where people in 36 states can shop for coverage, received 2 million visits Monday, its highest one-day total, the government said. Traffic was not as heavy on Tuesday but still high, White House spokeswoman Tara McGuinness said. She had no immediate estimate of visitors or how many succeeded in obtaining insurance before the midnight deadline. “The site is performing well under intense consumer traffic,” said Kurt DelBene, a former Microsoft executive appointed last week to take over management of the online marketplace. “With the highest volumes we have seen to date, response time is fast and the error rating is low.” Error rates were lower than 1 in 200, and pages loaded quickly, in less than a half-second, officials said. For a multitude of reasons, including technical difficulties with the site or trouble understanding the instructions, thousands of people sought telephone help and wound up waiting on hold on Christmas Eve at the government’s call center. Ian Stewart of Salt Lake City said he and his wife, both students, had been trying for weeks to complete their application on the federal site, thwarted by computer error messages each time. On Tuesday morning, while visiting relatives in Colorado for Christmas, they reached a call center counselor who succeeded in enrolling them. The “silver” plan they chose will cost them $241 a month after a cost-lowering tax credit. “We’re relieved that we got it working, elated that we got insurance again and very frustrated that it took this long,” Stewart said. More than 110,000 people had called the government’s
Photos by Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
ABOVE: Angelica Nava and her 1-year-old daughter, Ingrid Dayana Arnulfonava, of DeKalb, accept a Christmas gift Tuesday from volunteer Laura Frankiewicz during the Goodfellows gift distribution. Organizers estimated that about 100 volunteers spread throughout Sycamore and neighboring areas to give gifts to families in need. TOP: Volunteers Laura Frankiewicz and daughter Sarah Frankiewicz deliver presents to a DeKalb family as part of the Goodfellows gift distribution.
Goodfellows distribute gifts to children in DeKalb County By DEBBIE BEHRENDS dbehrends@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – The holiday spirit was alive and thriving Tuesday morning at Blumen Gardens. The Edwards Street garden center was a beehive of activity as Goodfellows arrived to deliver Christmas gifts to some 900 children in the area. Organizer Brian Scholle said this time of year, anyone can be a Goodfellow. “Anybody in the community is
“
welcome to volunteer. You don’t sign up; just show up,” Scholle said. “We probably have more than a hundred people out delivering packages. We’ve never kept count.” Although the organization has existed since around the time of the Great Depression, Rick Turner said it expanded from DeKalb to Sycamore about 20 years ago. “We’re trying to meet the need where the need is the greatest,” Turner said. Scholle explained that the Good-
fellows get lists of families needing a little extra help through the Women, Infants and Children program and from area schools. About the same time the lists are being compiled, they send a letter seeking support from past donors. They also host their annual “office party” at PJ’s Courthouse Pub & Grille in Sycamore. Scholle said the entire program cost about $35,000. The office party raises about $12,000, he said. “There are no administrative
costs. Every dollar we raise goes to the kids,” Scholle said. As the lists are compiled, Scholle said they are delivered to JCPenney in DeKalb, where employees fill them. “They use sale items, coupons, whatever they can do to get the prices as low as possible,” Scholle said. Store leader Arlene Goodrich said store associates do the shopping on their down time.
See GOODFELLOWS, page A5
Anybody in the community is welcome to volunteer. You don’t sign up; just show up. We probably have more than a hundred people out delivering packages.” – Brian Scholle, Goodfellows organizer
See WEBSITE, page A5
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