“Hometown Hero” receives $5,000 check

A few friends and Illinois Valley Animal Rescue Volunteers watched as a Peru woman who’s dedicated a lot of her life to strays received some compensation for her work.

Chris Ellberg was recently named the Culver’s Hometown Hero, receiving the most votes out of 1000 people nationwide.  Culver’s CEO and co-founder Craig Culver was at the Peru restaurant Thursday morning to thank her and present her with a $5,000 check.

Ellberg says she’s using the money to replace the van she uses when rescuing dogs.  She says she was looking at cars Thursday morning.

Ellberg was nominated by IVAR volunteer Tricia Gray.  Owners of the Peru Culver’s, Bob and Marisha Maier also expressed their thanks for the work Ellberg does.