the
By Numbers
20,000+
32/75 Rain or shine, tens of thousands turn out for the wearing of the green on St. Patrick’s Day. Staking its claim as the largest parade outside Chicago, Elmhurst welcomes a crowd of 20,000-plus. Eighty elaborate floats, seven marching bands and the 25-member Elmhurst Armpit Orchestra — kazoos, washboards and a giant bucket drum — will traverse the mile-long route. Naperville kicks off its shamrock shindig with a 3,000-strong 5K race. Later on, the 5,000 participants march, dance and tumble past thousands of green-clad spectators who line 160,000 bird lovers participate each spring in the National Audubon Society’s Great
the sidewalks along the one-mile trek into town. Further west in St. Charles, the parade is a family tradition, complete with clowns, leprechauns, marching bands and Celtic pipers along the 1.7 mile route.
Backyard Bird Count. This year,
Elmhurst, March 4 at 12 p.m.
East Dundee/West Dundee, March 11 at 11 a.m.
Wheaton’s Cosley Zoo joined
Forest Park, March 4 at 1 p.m.
St. Charles, March 11 at 2 p.m.
in, offering its first-ever workshop
Naperville, March 11 at 10 a.m.
Plainfield, March 12 at 1 p.m.
for would-be ornithologists. Staff
36,000
helped train participants to spot and identify species common to the western suburbs. Look out for song birds, hawks, owls, the
That’s the number of households in DuPage County
dark-eyed junco or, as far east
that depend on food pantries to stretch their grocery
as Oak Park, the occasional monk
budgets each year. With 51 locations throughout the
parakeet. You can log in your
county, West Suburban Community Pantry provides
sightings at www.birdcount.org.
quality food and nutrition, including meats, dairy
The Audubon Society relies
and fresh produce, to those in need. The program has
on the help of backyard
recently expanded to Bolingbrook on the border of
birdwatchers to study population
Will County, where, according to the 2015 Census, close
trends and migration patterns.
to 10 percent of residents live in poverty. The goal of the Community Hunger Network
For easier viewing, Cosley Zoo
is to educate and advocate for the elimination of hunger, one meal at a time.
is home to 32 species of birds — that’s a total of 75 individual birds, including screech owls, woodpeckers, herons, kestrels, mud ducks and more — and welcomes 170,000 visitors each year.
92
county sheriff squad cars patrol DuPage County,
and each and every one will soon be equipped with EpiPens, the life-saving device used to administer epinephrine in cases of severe allergic reaction. Thanks to a $40,000 donation by The Annie LeGere Foundation, the DuPage County Sheriff’s Department will be the first state-wide police force to equip its squad cars to respond to this medical emergency. Once a patient falls into anaphylactic shock, every second counts. Often, police are first responders, arriving on the scene minutes before paramedics. Each Myland EpiPen costs $600 — a 500 percent increase over 2009 prices. But hope is on the horizon, with a rival brand Adrenaclick soon to retail at just $109.
12 MARCH 2017 | WWW.WESTSUBURBANLIVING.NET | WEST SUBURBAN LIVING
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