Photographer: John Dixon

Stand Alone - From left, Holy Cross School students Van Gundersen, 12, Max Stewart, 11 Abby Coffey and Amy Bohlen, 11, jump up and down, compacting newsprint in recycle bins outside the school on Friday Dec. 14, 2012. The students are members of the House of St. Therese, Little Flower, a service organization at the school. They had completed folding thousands of pages of newsprint for the Champaign County Humane Society, and were compacting the leftover newsprint.

Photographer: Vanda Bidwell

l-r-Marine Corps Reserves Midshipmen,Joshua Konquillo, and Logan Crawford, and Staff Sergeant Ken Vingua bag up some of the toys brought by Menards of Champaign. WIXY sponsored a Toys for Tots Drive Thru on the circle drive on First St. in front of the Assembly Hall all day thursday.photo taken thursday december 13, 2012.

Photographer: John Dixon

Stand Alone - From left, Dial-A-Carol volunteers Habibat (Bebe) Oguntade(cq), Jose Cuevas, Adam Blackburn and Carol Chou(cq) sing a Christmas carol to a Dial-A-Carol caller in the lobby of Scott/Snyder Hall in Champaign on Thursday Dec. 13, 2012. More than 75 volunteers are scheduled to man the phones 24-hours/day through midnight on Dec. 19th. This is the 52nd. year of Dial-A-Carol at Snyder Hall. So far the group has received requests from Ireland and Austria, as well as seven States other than Illinois.

Photographer: John Dixon

Stand Alone - Citizen Action Illinois organizer John Gaudette(cq), aka The Grinch, leads a group of about twelve protestors singing Christmas carols set to words about tax-fairness, in front of U.S. Rep. Timothy Johnson's office in Champaign on Thursday Dec. 13, 2012. Joining Citizen Action Illinois were members of Champaign County Health Care Consumers, and the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans. The group was calling on Johnson to break with Republicans and work to end the Bush Tax Cuts for those making of $250,000 annually.

Photographer: John Dixon

Stand Alone - Citizen Action Illinois organizer John Gaudette(cq), aka The Grinch, leads a group of about twelve protestors singing Christmas carols set to words about tax-fairness, in front of U.S. Rep. Timothy Johnson's office in Champaign on Thursday Dec. 13, 2012. Joining Citizen Action Illinois were members of Champaign County Health Care Consumers, and the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans. The group was calling on Johnson to break with Republicans and work to end the Bush Tax Cuts for those making of $250,000 annually.

Photographer: John Dixon

Stand Alone - ROTATOR CROP - From left, Dial-A-Carol volunteers Heather Sears, Habibat (Bebe) Oguntade(cq), Jose Cuevas and Clare Curtin sing a Christmas carol to a Dial-A-Carol caller in the lobby of Scott/Snyder Hall in Champaign on Thursday Dec. 13, 2012. More than 75 volunteers are scheduled to man the phones 24-hours/day through midnight on Dec. 19th. This is the 52nd. year of Dial-A-Carol at Snyder Hall. So far the group has received requests from Ireland and Austria, as well as seven States other than Illinois.

Photographer: John Dixon

Stand Alone - Angie Armstrong, community involvement coordinator at Thomas Paine Elementary School in Urbana, pushes a cart full of shoes and boots down the hallway at the school on Tuesday Dec. 11, 2012. Aaron's, a sales and lease ownership store, donated 100 paris of shoes and snow boots to the school for students in need this winter season.

Photographer: John Dixon

Stand Alone - Students show off the contents of their goodie bags and say thank you to Lucky the Dog and Greg Smock, general manager of Aaron's, a sales and lease to own store, at Thomas Paine Elementary School in Urbana on Tuesday Dec. 11, 2012. Aaron's donated 100 paris of shoes and snow boots to students in need at the school.

Photographer: John Dixon

Stand Alone - Christian Weiss, 5, of Urbana, gets a little encouragement to play outside a little longer from his mother, Christa(cq), in front of their home on Fairlawn Ave. in Urbana on Tuesday Dec. 11, 2012. The two were taking advantage of the afternoon sunshine to get a little fresh air and play kickball.

Photographer: Darrell Hoemann

Rotarian Bob Scully of Champaign West Rotary tells Paige Hoerner, she was won h prize for the top essay in a Rotary essay contest during her English class at St. Matthews school in Champaign on Tuesday, December 11, 2012.Over 650 eighth grade students in all three Champaign Unit 4 Middle Schools as well
as Holy Cross, Next Generation, St Matthew and St John Lutheran were visited by a
Rotarian in September and were challenged to think about what would it take to
change the world by the use of a video produced by Rotary of the same name (see url
at the end of the e-mail) followed by an interactive discussion with the students.
One the best quotes from the video is a Rotarian saying what is needed is "The
vision to see, the faith to believe and the courage to act."

Photographer: Vanda Bidwell

Urbana Police Dept. annual giveaway of used bikes at the Public Works garage in Urbana friday morning.There were 100 used bikes available and a long line of hopeful recipients. . photo taken friday december 14, 2012.

Photographer: Vanda Bidwell

Urbana Police Dept. annual giveaway of used bikes at the Public Works garage in Urbana friday morning.There were 100 used bikes available and a long line of hopeful recipients. . photo taken friday december 14, 2012.

Photographer: Vanda Bidwell

Matt Crosby,Crosby Cycle in Urbana,pumps up the tires on the bike Rebecca Herrmann,UI student, picked out. Matt checked out all the bikes for safety and made some minor repairs. Urbana Police Dept. annual giveaway of used bikes at the Public Works garage in Urbana friday morning.There were 100 used bikes available and a long line of hopeful recipients. . photo taken friday december 14, 2012.

Photographer: Vanda Bidwell

Aden Smith,2,(there with his babysitter Cheri McNeal). Urbana Police Dept. annual giveaway of used bikes at the Public Works garage in Urbana friday morning.There were 100 used bikes available and a long line of hopeful recipients. . photo taken friday december 14, 2012.

Photographer: Heather Coit

Lynelle Loy and her two children, Lydia Loy, 9, and Billy Mason, 7, listen as Cynthia H ulsizer, interim executive director for the Center for Women in Transition, thank builders and local businesses who helped make the Center's project happen in Champaign on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Loy and her children offered tours of their new home to visitors before and after the press conference.

Photographer: Heather Coit

Siblings Lydia Loy, 9, and Billy Mason, 7, happily show off their new rooms to Greg Skaggs, City of Champaign community development specialist, during a tour of their new home as part of the Center for the Women in Transition project in Champaign on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012.

Photographer: Heather Coit

Lydia Loy, 9, left, and her brother, Billy Mason, 7, dig into some cookies as their mother, Lynelle Loy, whose hands are seen left, joins them after giving a press conference in their new home as part of the Center for the Women in Transition project in Champaign on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012.

Photographer: Heather Coit

Mark Watson, left, of Dreamworks Construction in Danville and the contractor for the home he prepares to enter, is joined by Greg Skaggs, a community development specialist with the City of Champaign as they help celebrate the opening of a new home as part of the
Center for the Women in Transition project in Champaign on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012.

Photographer: Heather Coit

Angela Fuentes, center, joins her second-grade classmates, Valentino Merriweather, left, and Lexie Clark in checking out her new bag full of make up and jewelry as Graham Misak, background, a UI freshman and member of Pi Kappa Alpha looks on after delivering presents to Brandon Rutherford's class. The Pikes held their ninth consecutive Pike Presents, which gives students a chance to enjoy receiving donated holiday gifts from the Pikes and University of Illinois sororities at Garden Hills Elementary School in Champaign on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. For the first time, the Pikes donated $2,000 to the school in addition to the gifts. The money will help support the school's literacy program.

Photographer: Heather Coit

Peter Lubieniecki (cq), a UI sophomore, joins fellow members of Pi Kappa Alpha and Garden Hills Elementary School staff in organizing gifts before delivering them to over 500 students at the school as part of the ninth consecutive Pike Presents, which gives students a chance to enjoy receiving donated holiday gifts from the Pikes at Garden Hills Elementary School in Champaign on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. University of Illinois sororities also helped with the philanthropy project. For the first time, the Pikes donated $2,000 to the school in addition to the gifts. The money will help support the school's literacy program.

Photographer: Heather Coit

Brandon Rutherford, second-grade teacher, passes out presents to his anxious students. Members of Pi Kappa Alpha held their ninth consecutive Pike Presents, which gave students a chance to enjoy receiving donated holiday gifts from the Pikes at Garden Hills Elementary School in Champaign on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. University of Illinois sororities also helped with the philanthropy project. For the first time, the Pikes donated $2,000 to the school in addition to the gifts. The money will help support the school's literacy program.

Photographer: Heather Coit

Texianna Sturkey happily checks her new Barbie doll after unwrapping the present in Brandon Rutherford's second-grade class. Members of Pi Kappa Alpha held their ninth consecutive Pike Presents, which gave students a chance to enjoy receiving donated holiday gifts from the Pikes at Garden Hills Elementary School in Champaign on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. University of Illinois sororities also helped with the philanthropy project. For the first time, the Pikes donated $2,000 to the school in addition to the gifts. The money will help support the school's literacy program.

Photographer: Rick Danzl

Madison Goble, 4, Oakwood, visits with Santa at the Village Mall in Danville Monday December 17, 2012. Santa will be at the mall to listen to Christmas list wishes and pose for photos noon to 8 p.m Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday and Christmas Eve.