Community Corner
ShareFest 2013: 400 Job Fair Attendees and Almost a Ton of Scrap Metal Collected
ShareFest 2013 promoted 11 Days of Giving and a total of 30 Days of Service throughout the month of September.
The seventh annual ShareFest in New Lenox exceeded last year's totals in collections of food, books, hazardous waste and more.
ShareFest 2013, the seventh annual collection drive and service project event, exceeded expectations.
Gary Cheney, ShareFest chairperson, said, "The annual ShareFest volunteer event has grown significantly over the years," but this year it designated the entire month of September for giving and outreach in the community.
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"The 2013 ShareFest New Lenox Committee would like to extend a heart-felt 'thank you' to all the volunteers."
A total of 103 organizations, mostly in New Lenox, partnered to assist in ShareFest 2013. "Your united effort to serve others has made a tremendous impact on our community.
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"It is with great joy that we share the totals from this festival of sharing love for our neighbors," he said.
ShareFest 2013 Collection Totals:
Book Drive/Exchange: Collected 5,121 books. Books for New Lenox Historical Society: 35 (the earliest publication date was 1910). Books recycled back into the New Lenox Community: 2,174 Books to be donated.
Clothing & Home Goods: Donated one full semi-truck load to Goodwill Store & Donation Center, 441 E. Lincoln Highway. The donations were collected at St. Jude Church, 241 W. Second Ave.
"We also donated 42.6 cubic yards of clothes and home goods were given to local families for reuse and to the Goodwill store," said Cheney.
Food Drive: 4,100 food items and $579 cash were collected
P.A.W.S. Animal Shelter, 8301 W. 191st St.: Took 11 names of candidates to adopt a dog.
Job and Resource Fair: Estimates are that approximately 400 people attended the event.
"The resume reviewers were busy all day without a break and still able to accommodate everyone who wanted to meet with them. The information sessions were well attended."
Service Projects: Completed 22 of 30 service projects utilizing 130 volunteers. Over 60 gallons of paint and 20 truckloads of material were transported.
Forest Preserve Workday project: Approximately 50 individuals from the Forest Preserve District of Will County, 141 S. Schoolhouse Road, University of St. Francis and local volunteers cut, hauled and stacked 10 brush piles, totaling 833.33 cubic yards of brush cut. The Forest Preserve team utilizing 2.5 quarts of herbicide for cut stumps.
Household Hazardous Waste Collection: Accepted waste from a total of 601 vehicles from 639 households. According to surveys, the majority of vehicles were from New Lenox and New Lenox Township and approximately 8 percent from other areas.
Scrap Metal Recycling: Filled 20 cubic yards totaling 1,960 lbs. The wood recycling filled two 50-yard containers and equaled 19.640 pounds.
"We are still waiting for weight from Dart Containers for foam plastic recycling and Vintage Tech Recyclers for electronic recycling, "but we know that amounted to at least another 1.5 semi-truck loads of material."
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