Every day, the American Cancer Society is helping us stay well by preventing cancer or finding it at its earliest, most treatable stages. They assist families in finding the best resources to help their friend or loved one deal with a diagnosis and their journey to get well. The American Cancer Society is also rallying communities (like ours!) through events like Relay For Life, to fight back and find cures for this disease.

Please join our team or make a donation to help the American Cancer Society create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Together, we can help make sure that cancer never steals another year of anyone’s life!

This year’s Relay for Life is June 15 – June 16 (6:00PM to 6:00AM) at the Elmwood Park High School.

This free, Elmwood Park Vendor Expo will introduce you to some of Elmwood Park’s finest home-based business and neighborhood services. And with door prizes, give-a-ways, and refreshments, what’s not to love?!?

Join us on March 31st between 10AM and 2PM at ZOAR Lutheran Church (2940 N 75th Court). And bring the whole family — we’ll have stuff for you and for the kids!

Attention Businesses: Contact us by March 1st to secure your spot for just $30! Call, email, or download this form and return it to us.

Doors open at 6:30 and your $40 ticket ($75/couple) includes dinner, bowling, and fun all night! Like always, the proceeds from this event will be invested back into Elmwood Park to help keep our neighborhood and local organizations strong!

The fun includes a cash bar, raffles, and more.

Tickets are going fast so make sure you call or email us today to get yours!

(Need a little inspiration? How’s this!)

It’s a free event and open to the entire Elmwood Park community. We only ask that each guest brings one unwrapped toy for a boy or girl (under $10) as a donation. Food, games, Marines, and Santa. What else could you ask for this year? Join us on Sunday December 4th!

Thank you also to our hole sponsors and donors. Below are a few pictures from the event, but they barely scratch the surface of the good time that was had by all!

This year, we’re back at Indian Boundary Golf Course for another day of golf, food, and laughs. We’ll start with lunch provided by the golf course at noon, followed by a 1:00PM shotgun start. The day will wrap up with a delicious barbeque provided by Baciami Restaurant and Massa Italian Cafe, on-site at Indian Boundary.

This year’s event will offer some classic contests, such as the longest drive and closest to the pin, but also some fun and exciting new contests, including a marshmallow drive contest, hole-in-one contest to win a vacation, and a chip-in-the-dark contest!

Golf & Dinner: $100; Golf Only: $60; Dinner Only: $40. Sponsor a hole with a sign for $100, or sponsor the dinner tent with an even bigger sign for $500!

Only a few days left to sign up your foursome or sponsor a hole! Call us at (800) 380-MyEP (6937), send us an email, or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/myepnco!

Despite doing everything possible to battle CHF, Ed’s heart has deteriorated. Ed has not responded to medication or surgeries, and is now on a heart transplant list. In March, 2011, Ed had a pump (LVAD – Left Ventricular Assist Device) surgically attached to his heart to pump his blood for him until he receives a heart transplant. Ed hasn’t been able to work and the “fixer-upper” home they bought when he was healthy is uninhabitable in Ed’s condition.

Join us at the Moose Lodge Fundraiser to Support Ed Platis on Saturday, August 27, 2011 at 5:00PM. Tickets are $10, which includes admission donation and a fun-filled evening with door prizes, a silent auction, raffles, a cash bar, food, and more!

The River Park Moose Lodge is located at 8601 Fullerton Avenue in River Grove. Doors open at 5:00PM!

Learn more about Ed and Jackie and how you can help at www.HaveAHeartForEd.org – a website started by their family and friends to help Ed and Jackie in this difficult time.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve received a number of phone calls and emails from neighbors asking me for a copy of the pension report I submitted to the Board of Trustees at the second village board meeting in June. I am publishing the report here for your convenience. Feel free to download it and pass it on.

At times, the report can get a little confusing as we dive into accounting topics — and specifically, pension accounting (which is even more difficult). I have removed my number and email address from this report for privacy reasons (I’m happy to provide it to you, my neighbor, but you should never blast your personal information publicly!); so, if you have questions, you may contact me through Facebook, email me through the EPNCO website, or by call the EPNCO at 800-380-MyEP (6937).

» Click here to download the report.

Joe Ponzio, EPNCO Director

Pension Report Highlights

All of the figures in this report are taken directly from the annual audits of the Village of Elmwood Park.

• Elmwood Park Police and Fire pensions are 37.8% funded, which is less than those of the State of Illinois (which, by the way, is the worst state in the nation).
• The taxpayers of Elmwood Park owe $31.9 million to these pensions by 2040.
• Our pension payments now consume 36% of Elmwood Park’s property tax revenue, up from 27% just ten years ago.
• Our pensions are insolvent. (Not bankrupt, but insolvent.)
• Our Police and Fire pensions have been grossly underfunded since at least 1997 (the earliest data was available to me).
• If we don’t address this issue, our taxes are guaranteed to go higher and/or other services are guaranteed to be cut.

The EPNCO has gone mobile. You can now receive occasional text message updates from the EPNCO right to your cell phone. Sign up now (it’s free*) by texting EPNCO to 90210. Seriously — it’s that easy! Just send a text message to the “phone number” 90210 with the word EPNCO as your message!

What do we mean by “occasional” text messages? Don’t worry — we won’t spam you! You’ll generally receive just one to three messages a month, and you can opt out at any time.

Don’t forget to sign up for our email updates and e-newsletter using the box on the right, and visit our Facebook page for even more ways to interact with your neighbors and friends!

* Your carrier’s standard text and/or data messaging rates will apply. Contact your carrier for details.

Enjoy your holiday and time with family, friends, and neighbors!