PCHS Spanish students hear from guest speaker Maria Balestri

Balestri spoke on her life story of being a Peter Pan child

Shaw Local News Network

On April 26, the Putnam County High School Spanish IV students heard from guest speaker Maria Balestri about her life story of being a Peter Pan child.

In 1962, Balestri’s parents sent her and her sister, ages 14 and 16, to the U.S. from Cuba. At that time many Cuban parents who feared indoctrination and the Cuban government would send their children to the U.S.

From December 1960 to October 1962, more than 14,000 Cuban youth arrived in the U.S. This was the largest recorded exodus of unaccompanied minors in the Western Hemisphere, later titled Operation Peter Pan.

Balestri and her sister arrived in Florida and stayed at the Homestead Air Force Base while awaiting to be placed in foster care. With the fear of being separated from her sister, an uncle took them in that lived in Minneapolis.

A few months later, they were adopted by a foster family. Three years later, May 1965, Balestri and her sister were reunited with their parents when they came on a Humanitarian Visa to the U.S.

Balestri later enrolled at St. Benedictine College for Women and met her future husband at St. John’s University. Balestri and her husband moved to the Illinois Valley and raised their three children.

Balestri taught Spanish at La Salle-Peru Township High School for 20 years before retiring after teaching at Dimmick Community Consolidated School District for six years.

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Hennepin Park District to offer multiple Red Cross swimming lessons this summer

The Hennepin Park District will be offering three sessions of Red Cross swimming lessons this summer. Each session will be two weeks long and there will be six levels of swimming ability.

Level 1 is the beginning class and participants must be 5 years old by Sept. 1 and at least 42 inches tall to participate.

Morning sessions will be 40-minute classes, Monday through Friday, and night sessions will be 50-minute classes, Monday through Thursday.

The first session will run from 9 to 9:40 a.m.; 9:50 to 10:30 a.m. and 10:40 to 11:20 a.m. from June 12 through June 23.

The second session will run from 9 to 9:40 a.m.; 9:50 to 10:30 a.m. and 10:40 to 11:20 a.m. from July 10 through July 21.

The third session will run from 5 to 5:50 p.m. and 6 to 6:50 p.m. from July 24 through Aug. 3.

Registration for these sessions will start at noon Saturday, May 13, at the Hennepin Pool, 326 Milan St. Registration must be done in person. If you cannot come at the given time, registration can be completed during normal pool hours after May 13. The lessons cost $35 a child.

If you live in Hennepin or Hennepin township they will pay for all lessons for each session. If you live in Granville, Gran- ville Township, Mark or McNabb it will be $35 a child. If you live in Standard or Magnolia it will be $17.50 a child.

Session capacities are limited to 24 students per time slot. Questions can be directed to the Hennepin pool at 815-9257319 or hennepinparkdistric@mchsi.com.

Mark cleanup days set May 18- 21

The Village of Mark will host its cleanup days from May 18 through May 21. Waste management will provide a dumpster at the Village Hall, located at 2 Park St., for village residents use.

Curbside pickup will be offered on Thursday, May 18. Waste management is urging residents to use the dumpster as their first choice as capacity to perform curbside collection may be limited.

Acceptable items to drop off include general household waste, furniture, bulky items like boxes, crates and clothing; construction debris less than five feet without exposed nails and carpeting cut to fourfoot lengths and properly bundled.

Non-acceptable items include electronic waste, tires, automobile parts, batteries, fluorescent light tubes or fixtures, appliances, yard waste, liquid waste, hazardous materials, biohazardous waste or medical or potentially infectious waste.

For any questions regarding the event, call Waste Management at 1-800-796-9696.

–ShawLocalNewsNetwork