LaSALLE – The Fort du Rocher Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution met April 13 at Illinois Veterans’ Home, LaSalle.

The program was given by Sandy Woest, a retired language arts teacher from IVCC. She has taught citizenship classes for 12 years and found it to be a very gratifying experience. Citizenship process: arrive with proper documents, five years to receive a green card, and another five years to be able to apply for citizenship. The process requires substantial fees, a 20-page application and finally an interview where the applicant is tested on speaking, writing and civics, and history. The free citizen classes meet twice a week for 10 weeks at IVCC. Woest then let DAR members try some of the citizenship and history questions on the test.

Members learned about a 250th birthday quilt completed and displayed at the international site. It contains a quilt block from each of the 50 states. They heard a report about the history of the pledge of allegiance and how it has changed over the years.

The patriot report was about Thomas Jefferson, primary author of the Declaration of Independence, 1st US Secretary of State, Vice President under John Adams and then 3rd US president serving from 1800-1808. He fostered the ideals of democracy, republicanism, and freedom of the individual.

Reports were given on the fiction book The Women by Kristen Hannah, a well researched story about the experiences of army nurses in Vietnam and their struggles after returning home, and on conservation about the use of rain barrels to conserve water and prevent erosion. Reserved water is excellent for watering plants.

A meeting to discuss plans for next year will be held on Wednesday, May 1 at 2 p.m. at Graves-Hume Library in Mendota.

At the next chapter meeting, state officer Laurie Perry will share a program on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 18 at Graves-Hume Public Library.

The Fort du Rocher web page may be viewed at http://www.fortdurocherchapternsdar.com. Any woman over 18 years of age whose lineage traces back to a Revolutionary War patriot, who wishes to learn more about Daughters of the American Revolution is invited to attend the next meeting or go online to www.dar.org.