Naperville News Digest: Bill Foster to honor photojournalist for her work as homeless advocate; DuPage urban stream research center tours offered Nov. 19

Foster to honor Pat Van Doren for work with homeless

U.S. Rep Bill Foster, D-Naperville, will honor former Naperville Sun photojournalist Pat Van Doren for decades of work covering family homelessness in an event at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, at Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook, 550 Kildeer Drive.

For 30 years, Van Doren created poignant images of infants, children and adults experiencing homelessness, which led to changes in state and federal legislation.

Van Doren was a founding board member of the Naperville-based HEAR US, which advocates for those without shelter. The HEAR US board will pay tribute to Van Doren, highlighting two of her images in handmade quilts.

The blankets will be part of a Dec. 21 art display for National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol building and will later be given to families and people in need. Local volunteers from Naperville, Aurora and Huntley were among those who helped sew blankets for the display.

DuPage urban stream research center tours offered Nov. 19

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County is offering behind-the-scenes tours of the Urban Stream Research Center at Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19.

Tours leave every 30 minutes and are $5 per person. The center is normally closed to the public.

During the tours, participants can see how the district’s ecologists are raising freshwater mussels, federally endangered Hine’s emerald dragonflies and other aquatic animals. The tours will showcase how ecologists are improving the region’s watersheds by expanding populations of mussels, crayfish, insects and fish.

The forest preserve district has released more than 27,000 mussels into watersheds of the DuPage, Fox and Des Plaines rivers and Lake Michigan since 2016.