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People may explore the outdoors with nature activities with their family at their own pace during the “Create Your Own Adventure” from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at Pleasant Valley Conservation Area, Shelter 1, 13315 Pleasant Valley Road, Woodstock.

According to a news release, the McHenry County Conservation District will supply the instruction and materials that will encourage nature exploration at home. Kits may include laminated scavenger hunt sheets, bug boxes, mini magnifier, clipboard, and insect pop-up net.

Registration and fee are due by Sept. 18. The event is free for county residents and $2 for nonresidents, plus $10 for the exploration kit purchased during registration. Register online at MCCDistrict. org or by mail to Prairieview Education Center, 2112 Behan Road, Crystal Lake, IL 60014.

Alan Hafer of Woodstock was recently promoted to first lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Hafer, a 2014 graduate of Woodstock High School and 2018 graduate of Ball State University, is on active duty as a registered nurse at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in Fort Bliss, Texas, where he cares for patients on the COVID-19 floor.

He will be assigned temporarily in Houston to assist with COVID-19 patient care for Federal Emergency Management Services.

Registered nurse Ellen Larson of Woodstock has retired from a nursing career of 54 years in professional caregiving.

Her full-time work included 13 years as a hospital night shift nurse. The past 21 years have been spent as orthopedic nurse for Dr. Dana Tarandy at MercyHealth.

She and her husband, Dallas, met in Indianapolis, where he was in hospital executive training. They raised three sons, Kirk, Reed, and Evan.

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Connected by Reading

By Jan Dovidio LARRY@THEWOODSTOCKINDEPENDENT.COM

With a little more time on their hands during the coronavirus pandemic, are people reading more?

Many Woodstock residents participate in local book clubs, and most have continued their monthly discussions either in person or virtually, while others will wait until a future time to determine their path.

The Woodstock Public Library hosts three book clubs. The General Store Book Club in Greenwood is not currently meeting as it is a very small space that does not allow for social distancing.

For the Literary Book Club and Murder & Mayhem Club, members were not interested in meeting virtually.

“Several of the Murder and Mayhem members said they weren’t sure they could read and enjoy books about murder and mayhem under current conditions,” library Director Nick Weber said. “The hope is to be able to restart them in 2021 and have tons of enthusiasm since no one will have participated in a book club for nearly a year.”

Read Between the Lynes bookstore hosts five book clubs, all of which have met virtually since March. They are Fantasy, Daytime, Evening, History, and Progressives book clubs.

“The decision to go virtual was made when it was obvious we would not be able to meet in person,” bookstore owner Arlene Lynes said. “Books are chosen by members of each group twice a year; each person brings suggestions on which they all vote.”

Over the winter, before the COVID-19 confinement, a woman visiting from Africa stopped at the bookstore to ask about the discussion groups. She bought books before leaving and was able to join in on one group discussion virtually from her home.

“Our book clubs are a way for our community members to share ideas and stories,” Lynes said. “Our virtual book clubs have been an important way for us to stay connected to each other when we can’t be together in person.”

One local book club began in 1976 through Welcome Wagon. During monthly WW meetings, six members found they all shared an interest in books. They began with 10 members that year; three of them still belong to what they call simply Book Club. They are Dinah Hoppe, Beverly Sichz Jackson, and Bette Nuelle. Membership numbers varied through the years; currently there are nine.

While this group usually meets one evening a month in a member’s home, they switched to Zoom meetings for March through May. In June they changed to gathering outside in a local park with masks and adequate space for distancing. Since then the group has continued this arrangement. Discussions seem to flow more smoothly than the often-awkward talking during Zoom sessions.

“One change I have noticed from the first years is that our book choices are influenced by our becoming older,” Sichz Jackson said. “We read fewer ‘weighty’ books that have significant relevance to social, cultural and education issues. And, for sure, there are fewer self-help books!”

Staff Report NEWS@THEWOODSTOCKINDEPENDENT.COM

After a five-month state-mandated closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Independence Health & Therapy’s Adult Day and Memory Care program in Woodstock has reopened.

This closure was part of the state’s quarantine orders that closed inperson programing of all such congregate day programs to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.

According to a news release, John Buckley, executive director of the agency, joined a statewide task force in June to develop plans to resume in-person care and establish safety protocols and procedures. After submitting its re-opening plan in late July, Independence Health & Therapy reopened Aug. 17, one of the first such programs in the state to receive reopening approval.

“The safety of our clients and staff is essential, and we are following evolving safety recommendations from federal, state, and local authorities,” Buckley said in the news release. “Our program has

By Cynthia Kanner

One of the major sources of fill in our landfills – and in fact, the greatest one by percentage – is food waste.

The Environmental Defenders’ Waste Reduction Action Team is working to inform the public about reducing Environmental both food and Defenders plastic waste The Green Scene and advocating for change at all levels of our community, from home to city government. Together, we all must reduce both of these major sources of waste – waste that can and should have another destination. Waste that needs to be redirected.

In the case of food waste, compost IS that other destination. It

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adjusted in light of the pandemic. Staff are wearing masks, clients are socially-distanced at all times, and we are operating at 50 percent of capacity.” reduces the load in our landfills and brings organic material to a renewed future through a product called compost. In addition, composting reduces the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Some folks compost at home in various ways to supplement soil for a flower or veggie garden. Some even compost indoors with the help of special containers and even worms. Others might not have a garden to add compost to, however, because of living accommodations, such as multifamily dwellings. But, they should still have the right to compost and help be an integral part of the big picture of waste reduction. But, how?

More and more communities are now offering what’s called curbside composting services through waste haulers. Just as the Environmental Defenders started the recycling movement in McHenry County in the 1970s, we now are advocating for curbside pickup of compost. As stated by the U.S. Environmental

The Illinois Department on Aging required the local agency to submit a COVID-19 infection control plan, which outlined adjusted service delivery procedures, in addition to a Protection Agency, “Food scraps and yard waste together currently make up more than 28 percent of what we throw away, and should be composted instead.”

A couple of towns in McHenry County currently offer curbside composting pickup, Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills. There might be others, and we encourage all towns in our beautiful county to enter contracts with haulers that include this service. The other trick is to be sure that residents actually know about this service offered by their towns. Communication is key … and the rest is … compost.

Please see our Facebook video from a summer Zoom program on Composting 101 from June 10, organized by our Waste Reduction Action Team, with information on backyard composting. There’s more that can be composted, if done correctly, than you might realize. The county’s “green” restaurants and cafés compost, and farmers markets could be a great destination video and photographs of program space. An instructional “welcome back” video for adult day and memory care clients was also produced and can be found on the Independence Health & Therapy Facebook page. IDoA is also using this video as an instructional tool to guide other agencies who are attempting to reopen, the release said.

The agency reports its Adult Day and Memory Care program operates 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday to provide direct personal care, assistance with activities of daily living, transportation, a number of diverse activities engaging clients in physical exercise, cognitive stimulation, and emotional wellness, a hot lunch, and two snacks.

The day program is described as a community-based program focused on improving the quality of life for adults with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or other neurocognitive disorders or chronic health conditions, including those living on a limited income, who can no longer manage independently.

For more information, call

815-338-3590. for compost, as are community gardens.

Stay tuned for more programs being offered in the future, hopefully, and don’t forget to advocate with city officials for this service. They, like other leaders in our county and state, are invited to a Town Hall on “How to Get Your Community Composting in Illinois,” sponsored by Seven Generations Ahead (with yours truly as a panelist) from noon to 1:30 Sept. 29.

If you’re a city official in Woodstock and reading this column (or any official who happens upon the paper) and want to learn more, please contact me or simply register here: eventbrite.com/e/how-toget-your-community-compostingin-illinois-tickets-117294498001.

In all this, let’s remember the old adage, “There is no away.”