West Leyden High School students dedicated part of their Saturday last week to giving back to the community.
"Each year, Leyden has this thing called Make a Difference Day," said Nathan Sopt, an 18-year-old West Leyden student. "There are a whole bunch of students who volunteer who come in and do things around the school and help people who are in need."
Now in its the eighth year, West Leyden's Make a Difference Day has students and school staff volunteer their time by doing things like working with the elderly decorating billboards and hosting bingo at places such as Concord Place and Generations at Elmwood Park, cleaning up parks around the community, and helping raise funds for Kiwanis by selling peanuts.
Additionally, West Leyden's parking lot was also the site of the If It Has Wheels car club's Cars and Coffee food drive to benefit the Leyden Food Pantry.
"This is the fifth annual cars and coffee event. We originally wanted to do one big car show but instead we scaled it down to have a whole bunch of guys to hang out and talk about cars," said Spot. "The entry fee for this car show is nonperishable foods, which get donated to the food pantry for people who are in need of it.
More than a dozen cars and motorcycles were parked in the school's front lot while people wandered between them asking questions about the rides. The engines revving in the lot sounded like thunder and the performance exhaust pipes of a few hot-rodded hatchbacks sounded like fireworks going off. One of the cars that stood out event was a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air owned by Rick Johnson, a resident of Northlake.
"When I first got the car when I was 15, it was all canary yellow," said Johnson, who owns Rock N Roll Automotive in Carpentersville.
His car's jet-black paint job was offset by the polished aluminum on its engine, which reflected the sunlight even on Saturday's overcast morning.
"I used to go to school here and look, donations are better than paying a $10 entry fee at a car show since it helps people out," he said.
Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
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