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Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois
62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com
WHAT’S SO FUNNY?
I would like to thank Todd Spivak for the fine job he did about the
problems at Oak Ridge Cemetery [“Rest in pieces,” May 6]. I advise everyone
who is also alarmed about the conditions at the cemetery to contact their alderman
and voice their concerns. If enough people do this, it will help put pressure
on the mayor to do something.
I know a certain radio station was very critical of the injured kid featured
in the article. We don’t go into cancer wards and laugh at people who are dying
of lung cancer because they smoked too much. We don’t laugh at people having
heart attacks because of their diet and lifestyle. No matter the circumstances
that caused a 300 lb. grave marker to fall on the child, it could have ended
more tragically.
This is just a kid, and a kid getting hurt is nothing to make light of.
Robert Pinkston Jr.
Springfield
“OUR HEARTFELT THANKS”
Not all of Springfield’s families have the resources they need to
make it in the world. Some of them need the help of others. And on April 24,
those others proved to be a talented group of SIU School of Medicine students
who organized and directed, for the tenth year, the A.M.A. 5K Run. The event
benefited the homeless and at-risk women and children who seek shelter and support
from M.E.R.C.Y. Communities’ transitional living program.
Seven corporate sponsors and 170 runners partnered with co-directors Amar
Chadaga, Matt Gardner, Bridget Heitz, Jason Konzelmann, Mindy Smith, and Cozumel
Southern to ensure that these families have a safe place to live and a way to
grow toward self-sufficiency. In the first three years of supporting the self-sufficiency
efforts of M.E.R.C.Y.’s families, this group has raised more than $10,000 to
address family homelessness, the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population
in our country.
To the student section of the A.M.A. and all those who supported their efforts
to make this event possible, our heartfelt thanks for another year of helping
to improve the lives of young women and children.
Mary F. Stone
Executive director
M.E.R.C.Y. Communities Inc.
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 2, 2004.
