McPherson School Tours. Designed for neighborhood and Options for Knowledge parents to get a better idea of what makes McPherson unique, take a tour and see for yourself. Get all your questions answered live and in person!

TOUR DATES:
November 30, Friday 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
December 4, Tuesday 9 - 10 a.m.
December 21, Friday 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.

RSVP to Marianne Turk, mturk@cps.edu, 773-534-2625, ext. 16787. If you are not able to attend any of the pre-scheduled tour dates, please contact Mrs. Turk to arrange a tour. Enter through the main office door (#1) at 4728 North Wolcott Avenue and proceed to the Parent Room (#105). For more info, please click here.

Waters Elementary School's Holiday Art Sale. Truly BUY LOCAL this holiday season!Come to the sale and stay for the Big Fork sausages, Cake Walk and community fun! Looking for one-of-a-kind, handcrafted gifts this holiday season? Our artists are local, super creative/talented and are selling amazing work this year. Come support a Chicago neighborhood school and its students, and gather with neighbors, families and friends in the true spirit of the season for a fun-filled day of food, local shopping, and community. Don't miss this super hip, local event on December 1st! See  waterstoday.org for details!

Waters GreenNotes. Take a peek at Waters School's weekly newsletter. For submissions, contact Waters Communications Chair.

Is there anything you want folks to know about your school? Please send along your information; we will publish it in our newsletter, then it will be on our website until the date(s) has passed.  

Donations of food (meats, sides, desserts, beverages), giftcards or money to help defray costs are needed to support this dinner, as well as volunteers for set-up, drivers, and assistance during the meal.  For more information on getting involved, please email Carolyn Bull at carolynbull@sbcglobal.net.  For complete information, please click here. 

During the holiday season, Ravenswood Community Services (RCS) collects hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves to hand out to neighbors in need.  This year, RCS will distribute the warm items on December 20th at the Tuesday Night Food Pantry and Community Kitchen. Chicago's winter is long and cold, and many of our neighbors need help to stay warm.  Please consider donating new or handmade warm accessories for your neighbors this year.  Adult sized hats, mitten, and gloves are needed most for this distribution.

Please drop off your donations at Alderman Pawar's office by Monday, December 19.

For more information about Ravenswood Community Services, to make other donations, and to volunteer please visit their website at  or contact the RCS office at 773-769-0282.

Ravenswood Community Services (RCS) provides hunger and poverty relief, health services, and life skills education in the Ravenswood and Uptown neighborhoods.  In 1993, RCS began handing out bags of groceries to about 20 neighbors through the front doors of All Saints' Episcopal Church.  Today, this vibrant non-profit serves about 350 neighbors each week and implements strategic neighborhood change through its feeding programs and through a partnership with Ravenswood School.

Common Pantry is looking for volunteers to assist in the following areas of their growing operation:

Program Coordinator

Volunteer will assist in executing our Home Delivery and Produce Distribution programs. 

Volunteer Coordinator

This position will assist the Director in coordinating available volunteer resources with the labor resource requirements of the organization.

Common Community Coordinator

Volunteer will assist with the execution of our social service assistance program. Computer literacy and strong interpersonal skills are highly preferred for this opportunity.

For more details on these opportunities please visit their website.   

If you are interested and have the availability to work with us in one of these areas, please contact their Director, Scott Best, at commonpantry@hotmail.com.  They can arrange a time to meet with you and discuss more details on these positions and address any questions you may have.

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission's College Illinois! program has reopened for new applicants interested in purchasing 529 prepaid college tuition plans for their children. For as low as $42 a month, Illinois parents and grandparents can start preparing for their children's or grandchildren's higher education. Any amount put into a 529 prepaid tuition plan is tax exempt. More than 35,000 Illinois families have already purchased 70,000+ contracts. College Illinois! has already paid nearly $400 million in tuition and fees to 936 institutions on behalf of 21,500 students. Through December 31st, Illinois residents can purchase College Illinois! prepaid tuition plans at 2011 prices. With college costs and student loan debt skyrocketing, there's never been a better time to start planning ahead for your child's college education. To open a College Illinois! 529 prepaid tuition plan, call 877-877-3724 or visit their website. 

Roots of Our Community.  Last Thursday evening an art-loving crowd of over 100 people gathered at Dolce Casa Café for the unveiling of "Roots of Our Community" a mosaic designed by Karen Ami of the Chicago Mosaic School, to honor our neighborhood older adults and the opening of an art show of 47th Ward Members of Senior Artist's Network. We want to thank Ross for hosting this extraordinary event. Please stop in anytime this month to view the work of the talented older artists who call the 47th Ward home.  Check out the articles below for information about the event.  

• Senior Artists Show Off Work at Local Cafe 
• 'She Gets It:' Artist Depicts Woman and Cat's Special Bond 

Promoting Sustainable Lawn & Landscape Care. Check this out! The Activist's Toolkit: a Guide to Promoting Sustainable Lawn & Landscape Care in Your Community. The Toolkit features stories and tips from successful activists as well as sample documents to help guide you with your efforts.

Cell Phones for Soldiers - A Huge Success.  Thanks for your generosity in donating your old or unused cell phones for our brave young men & women in the armed forces.  We sent away a heavy box via FedEx today and now our empty box is awaiting more unwanted cell phones.

Check out the infrastructure map on our webpage!

Sewer Mains for Wolcott and Ravenswood

City Contractor is making connection to the existing sewer at the intersection of Addison and Wolcott. The work will be done in late November. In early December, City crew will start installation of sewer pipes on Wolcott (Addison to Bradley) and Ravenswood (Belmont to Roscoe). The installation will be completed by the end of February and restoration will follow in Spring 2013.  

Water Mains for W. Winnemac, Ashland to Ravenswood

City crews have replaced this old 1894 main.  The main work is completed and the road is now open.  We are working to coordinate restoration with the rest of the work in this area.  To see the residents' notice click here.   

Irving Park Streetscape

The final phase of this 2-year streetscape construction will be installation of the new curbs and gutters, and parkway permeable pavers by the end of November.

Peoples Gas Main Replacement (Restoration) 

All of the mains and services in our area are now installed!  Peoples Gas and their contractors are working hard to get all of the restoration done by the end of this month. They may have some work that will have to wait until Spring.  Come December if there is pending work on your block, please call our office so we can make sure it is on their list. We anticipate all restoration on Irving Park, Montrose, Western and Lincoln being completed by the end of November.    

Metra Traffic Closures and Detours   

• The bridge at Foster and Ravenswood is CLOSED until 11/21/2012 to install the drilled shafts at the abutments.
• Irving Park to Berteau detours will be up intermittently through early December.
• Berteau to Montrose on Ravenswood wall installation on south end of block will continue through November with parking restrictions posted as needed.  
• Grace to Irving Park detours will be up intermittently through early December.
• Waveland to Grace, east of the tracks, will have parking restrictions intermittently for the next 3 weeks and detours intermittently through early December.
• The Ravenswood Metra Station construction has begun;  parking has been restricted from 15' south of Leland, north to Lawrence Ave. through December.
• Parking restrictions and detours may be opened, when possible, and re-closed once work is ready to resume.  

For more information, visit the infrastructure section of our website  or contact Bill Higgins at bill@chicago47.org or 773-549-2745.