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Largest collection of ladybug-related items
-world record set by Sheri Gartner
[April
12]LAKEWOOD, IL, USA--Sheri Gartner has collected 2,110*
ladybug-related items during the past 41 years and set the
world record for largest collection of ladybug-related items.
Photo: It took Lakewood resident Sheri Gartner
41 years to set the world record for the most ladybug-related
items in a single collection. Photo by Christopher Hankins/
Daily Herald
(enlarge
photo)
"It is slam-dunk for the good old USA,"
said Gartner, a substitute teacher for school districts 47,
155 and 158.
Her bugs trounce the previous record
of about 900 items, which was held by someone in Germany.
After touring the Turning Point emergency
shelter in Woodstock, she was touched and thinks of her efforts
as something for the "ladies in our community who sometimes
have to have hard shells," she said.
Her project, described as "fun and uplifting,"
raised roughly $2,010 through pledges, said Jane Farmer, the
shelter's executive director.
That amount is nearly enough to run the 27-year-old
shelter for two full days, she said -- it costs $1,125 for
a full day of operations.
Gartner collected pledges from 30 friends
and volunteers who helped her to count, catalog and document
her collection. She also tallied up the items before two witnesses.
“It’s
pretty exciting,” she said about the ladybug title. “It is
an accomplishment just to have gone through the process, and
I had so much help. “I could not have done it without all
those volunteers.”
Among the items they counted: a ladybug
bathed in Swarovski crystals, a ladybug lipstick holder and
her ladybug Christmas tree ornaments.
“It’s kind of neat, but remember it’s all
stuff,” she said. “People are more important than things.”
To make a donation on behalf of Gartner’s
ladybug collection, call Turning Point at 815-338-8081.
Online
donations are available using the DONATE
NOW Through Network for Good. Type "LADYBUG" in the
DESIGNATION section
*she has 60 more
ladybug items than she did when she sent her packet to Guinness
in November 2007. WRA has considered the latest figure.
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