Woodford County Sheriff Department personnel sport beards that helped to raise money for charity. The Open Arms Food Pantry in Metamora is one of four food panties in Woodford County that benefitted from the effort.

REGION

Workshop to teach how to start a business

A workshop, Starting A Business in Illinois, will be held Jan. 10, at the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, 801 W. Main St., Peoria. The workshop will be led by the Illinois Small Business Development Center of Bradley University.

The free workshop is designed for individuals wanting to start a small business. Instructors will explain how to get a business name registered, where to obtain a tax ID number, which legal form to choose, the importance of a business plan, what taxes to pay and more. The session will be held 3-6 p.m. For more information, call (309) 677-2992.

COUNTY

Beards raise money for good causes

Woodford County Sheriff personnel grew beards and raised $2,074 for special local charitable efforts.

Staff paid $50 for the privilege of growing facial hair, which is not allowed according to department rules. The initial no-shave effort was to last the month of November to raise funds for the four food pantries in the county. The effort was extended for two additional weeks for $20 to raise additional funds for the department’s Christmas for Kids fund.

The Spring Bay Food Pantry, Open Arms Food Pantry in Metamora, Eureka Food Pantry and the El Paso Food Pantry each received $416.25.

The extra no-shave effort raised $390 for Christmas for Kids. This program

provides funds to help families from around the county with small children that may be struggling financially. They are invited to the Sheriff’s Office for dinner and a visit from Santa Claus. Santa provides gifts for the kids and donations from the community are used to buy coats, gloves, clothing and some additional toys to help make Christmas a little brighter for a few families.

Sheriff Matthew L. Smith thanked all of the deputies who donated, some for much more than the entry fee. “It is great to see these fine people who make their career serving the public also step up and make this kind of monetary donation to the community,” he posted on the Sheriff’s Facebook page.

STATE

Literary magazine available free on the web

Ten new short stories by Illinois, Midwestern and other writers are featured in the 2016 edition of Downstate Story, Peoria’s only literary magazine for fiction. Downstate Story is on the web at www.downstatestory.com

The Illinois writers in this issue are Pepper Bauer of Mapleton; Susan Duke of East Peoria; Daniel Botkin of East Peoria; Connie Cook Smith of Canton; Jim Courter of Macomb; Marie Anderson of LaGrange; Grazina Smith of Chicago; James Chnura of Oak Park; and Kent McDaniel of Chicago. The work of Matt LeShay of Culebra, Puerto Rico, is also in the issue.

These outstanding writers include several with long lists of publications in other literary magazines, and some have written books.

Published by Downstate Story, Inc., an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, the annual publication aims to present original fiction by Illinois writers and writers with ties to Illinois and the Midwest as a quality alternative to today’s mass-market publishing.

The web edition is free, but readers are asked for donations to help defray publishing costs. All writers are paid for their work. Downstate Story’s Facebook page can be accessed at www.Facebook.com/downstatestory.

–Woodford County News Briefs–