Helen and Charles Suter are being honored with a new memorial scholarship established in their names. The scholarships, financed by the Suter Family Scholarship Fund, will go to graduates at both DeKalb and Sycamore high schools.

COUNTY

Family establishes scholarship fund

A longtime family’s love for education and learning is continuing with a new scholarship established through the DeKalb County Community Foundation.

The Charles and Helen Suter Memorial Scholarship will go to graduates at both DeKalb and Sycamore high schools. It will be funded by the Suter Family Scholarship Fund. Eligibility criteria for the award speaks to the values and ideals held by the family, holding academic achievement, volunteerism and service club involvement as preferred.

The Suters have been a part of DeKalb County for more than 75 years, beginning when Charles and Helen moved to Sycamore in 1938. Charles, founder of The Suter Company Inc., ran a successful family business, carried on by his in the early 1950s. Now a third generation is running the company, a maker of top quality, innovative food products with distribution nationwide.

The Suter fund joins the more than 65 scholarship funds at the Community Foundation, all with a desire to provide impact in the pursuit of education. To discuss setting up a fund that meets your charitable interests, or to contribute to an existing fund, contact Executive Director Dan Templin at (815) 748-5383 or dan@dekalbccf.org.

Post office food drive will help NIU students

The National Association of Letter Carriers will partner with the Huskie Food Pantry for the 25th annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. For the first time in its quarter century of service, the association has established a partnership with Northern Illinois University to address food insecurity on campus and help students who can’t afford to purchase university-issued meal plans.

Postal carriers in DeKalb, Sycamore, Cortland and Malta will again collect food during the largest one-day food drive across the nation, picking up bags of nonperishable food left at mailboxes before 8:30 a.m. May 13.

Carriers have traditionally delivered Sycamore donations to the Sycamore Food Pantry and

DeKalb donations to the Salvation Army Food Pantry. However, this year, mail trucks serving a section of northwestern DeKalb – including campus housing – will bring their bags directly to the Huskie Food Pantry.

These donations will help fill the shelves for the summer semester.

This initiative also addresses the challenge of promoting responsible disposal of unopened food as students pack up to leave campus the week prior to the food drive. Students are being encouraged to place unused nonperishables in collection boxes in residence hall lobbies.

DeKALB

A cappella group to end school year on high note

Fresh from its appearance in an a cappella championship in New York, DeKalb High School’s Enharmonic Fusion will give its final two performances of the school year in June.

Enharmonic Fusion will perform June 1 at the high school, and will sing with the University of Chicago a cappella group, Voices in Your Head, June 2 in Chicago.

The group was named first runner-up in the 2017 Varsity Vocals ICHSA Nationals in New York. ISHSA stand for International Championship of High School A Cappella. In the competition, the group earned an outstanding choreography award for its entire set, and soloist Grace Klonoski was named outstanding vocalist for a second year. Enharmonic Fusion was the Midwest champion going into the competition.

Grants from the DeKalb Community Foundation and the DeKalb Education Foundation played a key role in helping the group to compete. The money purchased microphones, which the group used extensively in rehearsals, and gave it a technological edge in the competition.

Deadline to order for lobster boil is May 15

Lobster lovers are urged to order lobsters by May 15, in anticipation of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church’s upcoming Lobster Boil. The annual event will be held May 20 at the church, 900 Normal Road, DeKalb. The lobsters come from Massachusetts. Visit www.facebook.com/StPaulsLobsterBoil/ to place an order.

The lobster boil tradition is 48 years old. Edward Fitzgerald, who moved to DeKalb from Massachusetts, would boil lobsters for the General Electric staff in DeKalb. In 1969, Norma Fitzgerald and Mary Roberts organized the first lobster boil. Since then, St. Paul’s has contributed more than 50 percent of the profits from the lobster boil to local charities and agencies such as Safe Passage, Voluntary Action Center and Hope Haven. Money also goes to St. Paul’s to fund various activities.

Student achieves Eagle Scout rank

Caeden Keith has come a long way since his Tiger Cub days in first grade. He recently earned the Eagle Scout Award, Scouting’s highest honor.

Boy Scouts can become Eagle Scouts after successfully completing a service project. Keith’s project involved removing and constructing a new cart bridge for Sycamore Community Golf Course. The new bridge provides golfers, carts and mowers a convenient and safe way to cross a creek.

Keith, a junior at DeKalb High School, is the son of Mason and Tara Keith of DeKalb. He is a member of Troop 33, sponsored by the First Lutheran Church in DeKalb. He plays an active leadership role in Troop 33, and is the troop’s representative to the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s national honor society.

His disaster relief projects with Troop 33 have taken him far and wide, volunteering to help victims of the Harrisburg tornado in southern Illinois, Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey, Moore tornado disasters in Oklahoma, the central Illinois tornados in Washington and Fairdale. Most recently he worked helping Hurricane Matthew victims in North Carolina.