STEP OUT FOR BREASTFEEDING
Celebrate the joys of breastfeeding Saturday, Aug. 6,
by walking. The Henson Robinson Zoo is the setting for the annual World
Breastfeeding Week “Walk at the Zoo,” promoting breast milk as
an exclusive source of nutrition for infants up to the age of 6 months.
Admission to the zoo is free 8:30-9:45 a.m.; the walk starts at 10:15 a.m.
Breastfed babies, studies show,
are less prone to allergies and are less likely to be obese when they grow
up.
And if that’s not enough of
an incentive, on Monday, Aug. 1, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation
giving nursing mothers in Illinois an automatic exemption from jury duty if
they request it.
REMEMBERING ATOMIC BLASTS
Local observances of the 60th anniversary of the
destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continue this weekend with a vigil at
noon Saturday, Aug. 6, at the Paul Findley Federal Building, Sixth and
Monroe streets, and an interfaith service at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 7, at the
Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 745 Woodside Rd. For
information, call 217-544-3997 or 217-546-5454.
LEARN ABOUT POLICE WORK
The city of Springfield hosts its next Citizen Police
Academy, a nine-week program of law-enforcement instruction and
orientation, beginning Sept. 1. Classes will be held at the police academy
and downtown police station 6-9 p.m. Thursdays. For information or to sign
up, call Nancy Claybourn at 217-788-8415 or 217-788-8416.
ACCESSIBLE BUNGALOW AVAILABLE
Old Neighborhood Rehab Inc., a not-for-profit
organization that rehabs houses in the Enos Park neighborhood, holds an
open house at 1153 N. Fifth St. 4:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9.
The two-bedroom bungalow —
the sixth residence the organization has rehabbed and modernized — is
the first that has been made fully accessible, with a backyard ramp;
wheelchair-height appliances, outlets, and counters; and a roll-in shower.
The city of Springfield assisted in the rehabilitation with $30,000 in
Community Development Block Grant funds, and the Dominican Sisters of
Springfield contributed $10,000 to the project.
Old Neighborhood Rehab is headed by
community activist Fletcher Farrar, president and owner of Illinois Times.
This article appears in Aug 4-10, 2005.
