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Park Ridge salon holding fundraiser to help Iowa town
Georgia Plevritis, right, owner of XO Glow Spa in Park Ridge, stands with employees Sweety Patel and Kelsey Klein. The spa is marking its 5th anniversary. | Buzz Orr~Sun-Times Media
XO Glow Spa
129 S. Northwest Highway, Park Ridge
http://xoglow.com
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Updated: September 21, 2012 2:53PM
PARK RIDGE — When customers of XO Glow Spa in Park Ridge come in for a facial, tanning session or a number of other beauty services on Sept. 22, they will be helping a small Iowa town raise some much-needed money to prevent a catastrophic flood.
All proceeds from most services purchased that day will be donated to the community of Hamburg, a town of 1,100 near the Missouri River in Southwest Iowa. Hamburg needs to raise as much as $4.6 million to inspect and repair a levee to protect the town from future flooding.
Georgia Plevritis, of Norridge, who owns and operates XO Glow with her daughter, Maria, was inspired to help Hamburg’s citizens after seeing a television news story about the town’s efforts to raise money — largely via the Internet and social media — following a near-devastating 2011 flood.
“I just felt connected to it,” Plevritis explained. “I come from a very small town myself, in Europe, and I felt connected to the people (of Hamburg) and what they want to achieve.”
Plevritis has not set a goal for how much money she would like to see contributed to Hamburg, but on Sept. 22 the spa, at 129 S. Northwest Highway, will be open its normal hours, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., or even longer if necessary. Additional donations for Hamburg’s efforts will also be accepted on that day.
The fundraiser will coincide with XO Glow’s fifth anniversary.
The spa has already established a tradition of giving back in the short time it has been in operation. Locally the business has supported Maine South Hawkettes, Maine East High School musicals, Mary, Seat of Wisdom’s Angel Event fundraiser, Rainbow Hospice’s public art fundraiser and St. Juliana’s Blacktop Ball, among others. Much of the support is monetary, Plevritis said, but gift certificates for services and gift baskets have also been donated to the local organizations.
“Because they support us, we like to support our local community,” she said.
Plevritis has been a Park Ridge business owner for 20 years. In addition to XO Glow she is the proprietor of Georgia’s Hair Salon at Summit of Uptown.
“I thought it would be a nice extension to what we were already doing (at Georgia’s),” Plevritis said of XO Glow.
Services offered at XO Glow include tanning, airbrushing, body waxing, facial threading and waxing, henna application, and seven different types of facials.
“I would say our most popular are waxing, eyebrow threading and tanning,” Plevritis said.
XO Glow Spa’s name comes from the first letters of the Greek words for “golden beauty,” but many customers have equated the name with the symbols for hugs and kisses which the owners acknowledge is fine with them.
Despite opening during a rough economic time, the salon is still doing well, according to Plevritis.
“We’ve been very lucky,” she said.
