After Lyon died in 2004, her grandchildren, April and Brandon Lyon, and friends decided to keep the sale going in her memory.

This year’s 17th annual Sue Lyon Memorial Book Sale will be held May 31 to June 2 at the Federated Church, 612 W. State St., in Sycamore.

17th Annual Sue Lyon Memorial Book Sale
May 31st – June 2nd 2012
The Federated Church – 612 West State Street, Sycamore IL 60178

(Donated books may be dropped off on may 30th)

Hours
Thursday – 9:00am – 8:00pm
Friday – 9:00am – 6:00pm
Saturday – 9:00am – Noon
($5/bag sale on Saturday Only)

Proceeds will go to Feed’em Soup in Memory of Tim Getzelman and Lexi Weber
and The Dekalb County Animal Shelter

When Feed ‘em Soup first started, it was just a small group of us meeting in an apartment in Sycamore. Two years later, Feed ‘em Soup is being featured in the newspaper, has had spots on the radio, is feeding an excess of 250 people, and now on the morning news. This is what I experienced the morning I represented Feed ‘em Soup on Fox 39 in Rockford.

I barely slept at all the night before. I had tossed and turned, watched TV, paced the floor with anxiety, even went for a midnight walk. Eventually my eyes got tired and I went to lie down on my couch. It seemed like just a few minutes later my phone was going off. I had asked Derek to call me when he got up so I knew it was time to get up myself. I walked to the kitchen and looked out the window above my sink as I usually do. After stepping outside, I noticed it was a bit chilly but sunny out. That brisk morning air was refreshing as I took a deep breath and had a small conversation with myself. ” Collin, this is something you and the rest of your Feed ‘em family have been working toward for a long time. Remember this will be instrumental in getting the cause you believe in so much out in the widespread public eye.” I thought in response,” Shut up Collin. After years of performing live on a stage, the one thing you learned is psyching yourself out is probably the number one cause of freezing up.” I went back inside and proceeded to get dressed. I walked out to the driveway and the anxious pacing commenced again for about ten minutes until Derek picked me up. He greeted with his trademark ” What’s up?”. I hopped in the van that was donated to us by Toyota for Toyota’s 100 Cars For Good program. We hit the road and began discussing what the news anchor, Sachelle, could possibly say and questions she might ask. We talked about what the show might be like and how awesome this will be for us at Feed ‘em. At the time, both Derek and I were receiving multiple texts and phone calls from fellow Feed ‘em Soup members showing unbridled support for what was about to happen. Property Director, David Marx, called Derek and asked how I was doing. Derek replied, ” I’m probably more nervous than he is.” Which, in all honesty, was the truth, but not for long.

We turned onto the off ramp and made a right on the road where the Fox 39 studios were located. While driving down the street we were looking for the address and checking map quest on my phone to make sure we were in the right place. We stopped at a light, looked across a field and saw a whole slew of satellites, a huge building and an antenna about ten stories high. HELLO NERVOUSNESS! My palms got sweaty, my throat got really dry, and I had a knot in my neck. (I don’t get butterflies before going on stage; I get neck cramps.) We pulled into their driveway and stopped to take a quick photo of the sign. A news anchor that was obviously late immediately honked us at. We pulled into our spot, and Derek said ” You ready for this buddy?” I simply took my cellphone out of my pocket and said, ” Let’s do this.” Little did Derek know I was shaking on the inside.

We were buzzed in at the door and walked back to a waiting area where we were briefed on the goings-on of the program. On the way to the waiting room, we walked right by the live studio where Sachelle, would be interviewing me. I think my jaw dropped a little bit. This was the real deal, not some “Wayne’s World” basement production. I was really hoping I didn’t have to do make-up. In the waiting room, we were in the middle of all the madness that was their morning routine. After a brief wait, it was game time. We walked into the studio and waited a few minutes ‘til they told me to mic up. I was freaking out! But as I watched the airing of our news piece and was introduced live on the air, an “old friend” of mine came back to visit in my mind. His name was Total Confidence. For me, when I’m performing or speaking about something I truly believe in, all the worries and nervousness go right out the window. Though I had prepped with Derek for the very questions Sachelle began to ask, had everything pre-thought out, I went blank on those planned answers and just spoke from my heart. When it was over, I thanked Sachelle for supporting our cause and walked out of the studio.

Derek and I immediately started receiving phone calls and text messages from our fellow Feed ‘em Soupers who had watched the program telling us what an amazing job that Fox did covering our story and how well I handled being live on the air. David Marx was the first to call and say how great everything looked. Stacie Varner, another director at Feed ‘em Soup, sent me a text message saying that she had cried during the whole piece and was extremely proud of me. We hit the road smiling. Not more than ten minutes on the road, we started getting flooded with calls, texts, and Facebook posts. Director Josh Akers’ mother sent me a private message on Facebook saying she was in tears and was so proud of all of us. Derek and I were ear to ear with smiles and at one point we even had to choke back some tears.

By the time we had reached Rochelle, I needed to get out of the van and decompress before we headed back into Dekalb. I climbed out and had a wave of emotions come over me, not uncommon after speaking or performing in front of a large group. Me, myself, and I started to talk again. “This is real, Collin. You were just on live TV morning news on a Fox station in front of thousands of people. All the hard work, the blood sweat and tears, the late nights scrambling before events. We are finally here.” I just looked off into the distance for a brief moment and took a deep breath as I thought about my mother. No matter where she is, I felt her looking on me with a sense of relief that all the hardships she and I had suffered in my early life taught me the lessons that brought me to this point. I hopped back in the van with Derek and we took off towards Dekalb. Mission: Successful.

In closing, I would like to say the experience was nerve-racking, entertaining, and something I will remember for the rest of my life. I am very proud to call these people around me my family. I thank each and every one of you, who have ever volunteered, given us a donation, befriended us on Facebook, or just spoke about us to a friend. It is because of the hard work of those around me that we were given this amazing opportunity. I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart.

By Derek M. Gibbs

Post meal nights are usually spent pretty restless. A haphazard mess of nerves, stress, anxiety and adrenaline usually keep my body up long after my brain would like. Or maybe it’s vice versa. I generally use the time to get caught up on needed emails or other odds and ends tasks. Tonight is different. As my thoughts wander from various self critiques of our meal tonight I keep ending up on a moment in the evening that has had a profound effect on me.

While this story isn’t about me, per se. I feel I should supply some background on why this moment has resonated with me. I came to Feed’em Soup early on – before we had our first meal. We hadn’t even received our first donation. When I joined on to help there was a facebook page and a rough sketch of an idea. It started as something for me to do on Wednesday nights and has since completely changed my life. I put in anywhere from 20 to 40 plus VOLUNTEER hours a week doing typical day to day business stuff. I sometimes struggle with the fact that I could be doing more for MYSELF but it’s the stories of the people I meet at our meals that make me realize that life isn’t always about a paycheck. 40 years from now I will never remember the paycheck I have earned this week, but I will forever remember this story.

We strive to provide not only our guests with a great experience but our volunteers as well. There is a large need in this community for people wanting to give back. We strive to give people that outlet through our organization. We strive to encourage and inspire kids, teens and adults to volunteer. It was no surprise this evening when one of our regular volunteers who is only 11 years old showed up with a big smile on her face. She approached the coffee bar and awaited her assignment. After being assigned to a position, she reached up and set a small plastic dixie cup on the counter full of quarters with a few wrinkly one-dollar bills on the top and said “I had a lemonade stand. It’s $16. If I counted it right.” She immediately turned and walked to her assigned job. She didn’t expect a thank you or a reaction at all. She was simply handing over the proceeds as if it was expected of her and she was smiling just because she was happy to be in the building. If more people had the character of this 11 year old girl our world would be a vastly different place. Instead of buying candy or other typical 11 year old stuff she worked to earn money and purchased meals for almost 13 other people – and then donated 2 hours of her time to help serve them.

Running a community kitchen isn’t always easy. There is a lot of late nights, a lot of long discussions, and a lot of hard work that usually isn’t fun. Putting food on tables makes you feel good. Filling out expense reports, checking expiration dates, mopping floors and keeping everything neat and organized is a JOB. When an 11 year old brings you a cup full of money she raised because she has been impacted by all that hard work – that’s better than any paycheck. So to that 11 year old girl that brought in that $16 – if she counted it right – thank you for inspiring not only myself but all of us. This crazy journey we started isn’t always easy, but it’s people like you that remind us why we do what we do.