Rodgers dedication, dinner set for Saturday

AURORA --The city will celebrate the career of Fred Rodgers on Saturday with two events.

First, beginning at 3 p.m. Mayor Tom Weisner and the City Council will dedicate the Fred Rodgers Community Center at 501 College Ave. in Aurora.

At 5:30, an appreciation dinner hosted by Weisner and Alderman Scheketa Hart-Burns will be held at Long Island Sound, 1920 E. New York St., running until 8:30 p.m.

A $30 donation for dinner will go to the Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry and the Aurora Interfaith Food Pantry. For tickets, send money to 60 W. Downer Place, Aurora, IL, 60506, Attn: Scheketa Hart-Burns. For additional information, call Burns at 630-898-2943 or 630-844-3619 or Ann McBride at 630-264-8268.

Rodgers, the city's youth services director, will retire at the end of the month.

Rodgers started working with the city in 1986 and since then has started and nurtured dozens of programs for the kids of Aurora, including the City of Lights tournaments, the Aurora Sports Festival, and many anti-violence and drug-prevention initiatives.