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This year a few of Springfield’s Republicans and
Democrats will celebrate the Fourth of July in rare bipartisan form. Could
it be excitement over the Capitol’s fireworks? No. The promise of
corn on the cob and watermelon slices? Probably not. Instead, says Ward 3
Ald. Frank Kunz, it’s an attempt to aid the city’s most
downtrodden. Kunz, Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards, Lincoln Land
Community College board member Cinda Edwards, and state Reps. Raymond Poe
and Rich Brauer will help community members raise funds for the Salvation
Army’s surprise winter project — the housing of the Springfield
Overflow Shelter. “We need somewhere when the weather is bad for
people to go instead of being out on the street,” Kunz says.
Helping Hands, which operated the annual shelter Nov.
1-March 31, announced earlier this year that it no longer had enough space
to provide a winter refuge for the area’s homeless, and the Salvation
Army pledged to fill the void. “There wouldn’t be a shelter unless
someone stepped up to say they would take it,” says capital campaign
director Dave MacDonna, “so the Salvation Army looked at a way to
have it temporarily here.”
Next week’s fundraiser will help the
organization fuel the Springfield Overflow Shelter, says MacDonna, because
costs for additional staff, food, and utilities were not written into the
Salvation Army’s annual budget. He adds that Helping Hands required
$25,000 to operate last year’s shelter.
The fundraiser, which begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July
4, at Pasfield House, 525 S. Pasfield, will include food, drinks, and
desserts, plus a view of the city’s holiday fireworks. Tickets, which cost $20, can be purchased at the
Salvation Army, 530 N. Sixth St., or at any four of the following Town
& Country Bank locations: 3601 Wabash Ave., 2601 N. Dirksen Pkwy., 2401
Wabash Ave. or 1925 S. MacArthur Blvd.
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jun 21-27, 2007.
