Hilary Decent – Page 15

With fewer people volunteering to ring bells for the Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign, the nonprofit organization is raising far less this Christmas season -- money need needs to operate year round.

Decent: To help the Salvation Army as it struggles to raise the money it needs, I became a bell ringer

December 24, 2021 at 11:04 a.m.

Ding, ding, ding, ding. You know the sound. You can barely leave a grocery store at this time of year without hearing someone ringing a bell by a Salvation Army...

If you have trouble sleeping, you can always do what columnist Hilary Decent does -- make a running list of everything you think about and do while you're staring at the clock.

Decent: When beauty rest escapes me, there’s plenty of nothing do during my insomniac hours

December 17, 2021 at 8:55 p.m.

12.21 a.m. Welcome to the first meeting of Naperville Insomniacs Anonymous. As the newly (self) appointed president, I realize I'm blowing my cover before we even begin, but after tossing...

Decent: Luck in short supply when trip to Vegas includes delayed flights, no food and a ‘misplaced’ car

December 11, 2021 at 11:49 a.m.

Flying on a holiday is always a bit of a gamble, but it was a risk Grumpy was prepared to take as we headed to Vegas for Thanksgiving. While I...

Decent: Church’s Giftmart puts dignity first by letting low-income parents buy their children presents for token cost

December 3, 2021 at 2:01 p.m.

Amy Plummer participated her first Giftmart "Christmas store" 12 years ago. At the time she was a young widow with three children, grateful not to need the help it offered...

Decent: Gather a Cup of Cheer — and a few decorating ideas — during the Naperville Garden Club’s annual house tour

November 24, 2021 at 5:46 p.m.

Naperville Garden Club's Cup of Cheer has been a beloved tradition since 1961. For many residents, it's as much a part of Christmas as decorating the tree or making cookies,...

Decent: Will the daughters of two Naperville North athletes be the next Venus and Serena? Only time will tell

November 20, 2021 at 11:10 a.m.

The new Will Smith biopic about Venus and Serena Williams' father, "King Richard," is likely to be a smash with tennis fans around the world, but perhaps none more so...

Moving digital images are cast on the floors and walls of Lighthouse ArtSpace as the "Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit" during the Feb. 9, 2021, preview of the show in Chicago.

Decent: Lifelong love of van Gogh makes immersive experience the next best thing to climbing into one of his paintings

November 10, 2021 at 1:39 p.m.

My very first impression of Van Gogh was love at first sight. My schoolgirl crush began when I learned about his paintings and chose "Café Terrace at Night" to study...

A Zamboni smoothes the ice before Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final at the United Center in 2013.

Decent: Experiencing your first hockey game raises all sorts of questions — like what’s that big beer cart doing on the ice?

November 5, 2021 at 1:07 p.m.

What I wanted was to see was the musical "Frozen" in Chicago; what I got was a Blackhawks' game at the United Center. "There are a lot of similarities," Grumpy...

Decent: Honoring Naperville firefighters who go beyond call of duty puts small spotlight on otherwise unheralded work

October 29, 2021 at 11:56 a.m.

When you're a paramedic, you're never really off duty. When the chief of emergency medical services for the Naperville Fire Department saw a road traffic accident on his way home...

Decent: Pandemic has meant big changes — and increased need — at DuPage Pads, but new director going with the flow

October 23, 2021 at 12:28 p.m.

While admitting she had big shoes to fill, the CEO of DuPage Pads seems to have found exactly the right fit. Following in the footsteps of Carol Simler, who retired...

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