Publications & Sites 
Letters to the editor
Updated: January 13, 2012 10:41AM
Thanks for the help
The National Council of Jewish Women—Chicago North Shore Section’s Luggage for Freedom Project held their annual Pack and Delivery Day Oct. 23. Over 90 volunteers of all ages gathered at West Ridge Center in Highland Park to pack over 150 suitcases filled with sheets, towels, purses and toiletries, as well as 175 children’s backpacks filled with books, stuffed animals, handmade pencil cases, fleece blankets and other small items made by the children volunteering that day. All the luggage and items packed were donated by members of the community and the businesses listed below. The bags were delivered by Luggage for Freedom volunteers to six domestic violence shelters in Lake and Cook County.
We would like to thank our hard working and dedicated new and returning volunteers. Without our volunteers’ commitment, our program would not be possible. We’re grateful to everyone who helped us make a difference in our community.
We would also like to extend our deepest appreciation to the following businesses for their invaluable support and donations: American Hotel Register Company, The Art Room, Extra Space Storage in Highland Park, Golan’s Moving & Storage, Kaehler Luggage, Marriott Courtyard – Lincolnshire, Ross Discount, Staples, Inc., Sunstar Americas, Waste Management, Inc. and West Ridge Center in Highland Park. We are so appreciative of their support!
Pam Zlotnik and Nora Zuckerman
Luggageforfreedom@ncjwcns.org
Group housing is not a good idea
In Lincolnwood there is a question of Group Housing.
In the Sun-Times paper on Nov. 2 there was a story of a 47-year-old man who tried to pull his pace maker out. The paramedics tried to save him, but he died.
The cost of the paramedic response team is approximately $400. Multiply this one incident, and include police calls, say by 50 Group Houses the total is well over $20,000.
The individual who cares for a special needs person gets approximately $2,200 a month from the State of Illinois. Multiply five people in a house and the person who runs the house gets $11,000 per month.
Many of us seniors are living on Social Security. The average Social Security payment across the country is $1,000 per month. According to Pioneer Press 14 percent of all Lincolnwood houses are in foreclosure and probably double that on short sales, thus paying no taxes. I don’t think we can afford another tax because of Group Housing.
In conclusion, the person who runs this program does very well financially; conversely the 99 percent of Lincolnwood suffers financially.
Not a good idea. Let’s keep Group Housing out of Lincolnwood.
John Purtell, Lincolnwood
How Galitz Street got its name
I’m writing from Montana. My great-grandfather founded the First National Bank of Skokie in 1907 at the corner of Oakton and Lincoln.
His last name was Galitz, and there is, among other memorials in Skokie, a street named Galitz Street. He lived on that street; my mother was born and married on that street. It is pronounced “GAL-itz,” with the accent on the first syllable.
I’d like to briefly tell you about my grandfather, Willard C. Galitz, who died in 1992. As a child, he delivered wagons of vegetables to market in Chicago from the family farm in Skokie. He worked at a time when bank presidents knew most people in the community. A family story tells of a bank skeptic burying his money in a jar in his back yard and how my grandfather told him how important it was to remember where he buried it.
While I was experiencing some rough teen years, he told me that whatever I did he would love me and be supportive of me. My wish is that every time you see Galitz Street that you pronounce it like the family it represents and be reminded of a man who believed in people regardless of their actions or beliefs.
Kris A. Kramer, Whitefish, Mont.
