DAR Sycamore chapter names Community Service Award recipients

SYCAMORE – The Sycamore General John Stark Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution recently named its Community Service Award recipients who helped collect food and provided aid to children in need.

The award was given to Ann Mueller, Erin McNeal, Crystal Steffa and Dan Steffa, according to a news release.

Community Service Awards are noncompetitive awards given to those who perform voluntary community service on a local level. Chapters may be authorized to present up to two awards per calendar year.

This year, the General John Stark Chapter honorees were dedicated to raising food for their community and fostering children.

Malta Community Garden

Members of the Malta Seedling Committee, Ann Mueller and Erin McNeal, took on the project of creating the Malta Community Garden.

The village of Malta agreed to allow the site owned by the village to be used, and the ladies went to work planting and harvesting for the community, according to a news release.

In addition to planting edibles, the women also beautified the plot with flowers around the signage. A birdhouse and a bench also have joined the spot to make it a comfortable place to enjoy the growing process.

Edibles are for the enjoyment of the community at the Malta Public Library.

Foster parents

Crystal and Dan Steffa have been foster parents since 2000, according to a news release. Dan’s grandmother also was a foster mother, so Dan saw for himself how a helping hand could affect a child.

The couple has had a role in fostering more than 30 children, sometimes siblings from the same home. They also have adopted several children.

“They become a part of your family,” Crystal Steffa said in a news release.

Dan also plants a large vegetable garden that is shared with the community from his picnic table by the side of the road.

Dan and Crystal give their time and patience in meeting the needs of the children and their community.

‘Stars and Stripes Forever’

The chapter also welcomed Michael Embrey to its meeting. Embrey presented a program regarding John Philip Sousa and the 125th anniversary of the premier of his march “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

“When I was first asked to speak and found out the topic was about Sousa and ‘Stars and Stripes Forever,’ there was no way I could say no,” Embrey said in a news release “John Philip Sousa is a musical hero to many, including myself. I am still impressed on how and why the group selected Sousa and his famous march, and I give the organization four stars on the selection of the topic.”

On Dec. 10, 1987, “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” a song penned to honor the passing of Sousa’s closest friend, was named the official march of the U.S. Its verses focus on the nation being a shining light of freedom, a country offering hope for the world’s desperate and oppressed masses, and a land where the common person could expect and experience justice.

Chapter members learned that Sousa was friends with the University of Illinois director of bands, A.A. Harding, and wrote the “University of Illinois March” in 1929.

Upon Sousa’s death in 1932, his widow donated his music and instruments to the University of Illinois. Thirty-nine trunks and two boxes of music were shipped to the University of Illinois band department, and the Sousa Archives was established.

In appreciation for Embrey’s entertaining and informative program, the chapter presented him with a U.S. flag that had been flown over DAR headquarters in Washington, D.C., in his honor for Veterans Day. Embrey also was presented with a DAR Challenge Coin.

Almost 60 books were collected in support of the chapter’s literacy project. The books will be donated to the LaSalle Veterans Home and the children’s department at the DeKalb Public Library.

The DAR is a nonprofit, nonpolitical women’s service organization with members who can trace their lineage to an individual who contributed to securing American independence during the Revolutionary War.

Today’s DAR is dynamic and diverse, with more than 185,000 members in 3,000 chapters in the U.S. and abroad, according to a news release. DAR members annually provide millions of hours of volunteer service to their local communities across the country and world.

DAR chapters participate in projects to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism.

More than 1 million members have joined the organization since its founding in 1890.

Information about the DAR can be found at DAR.org. Those interested in membership can email the General John Stark chapter at GeneralJohnStarkNSDAR@gmail.com.