My name is Aaron Eubanks. I was born in Benton, Illinois on November, 28 1977 to Dennis and Linda Eubanks of Buckner, Illinois. I was raised in the Village of Buckner and lived most of my life here. My FAMILY!! My brother Allen Eubanks and my sister Dianna (Eubanks) Helfrich.
I was one of many that rode our bikes until dark, played in the ditches and built forts in the woods. We had a clubhouse in our back yard and we called ourselves the Warriors. We played with toy guns, dressed up like army guys and ran around throwing water balloons at each other. We played basketball, swung on the swings, climbed the jungle-gym, had a very tall metal slide and played tag at the Village of Buckner park. We played football and baseball in the ball field South across the road.
When it snowed I bundled up grabbed a shovel and headed out to remove snow from neighbors side walks and driveways. My parents delivered newspapers from 3am-6am every morning were we helped fold newspapers, put rubber bands around them and on rain days put them in plastic bags. I rode my bike for a while delivering papers to customers of our community. My dad later helped me to start mowing lawns in the community. At one time I had about 15 yards to mow. Through the 1990’s I had the opportunity to work along side with my dad remodeling many houses here in our community. My dad taught me many trades.
Living in the Village of Buckner I attended Christopher, Illinois Schools. I wasn’t the best student with getting good grades until junior high. With someone’s suggestion I joined the track team in grade school and soon earned the nickname “Fireball” by Eric Mueller. Which the nickname “Fireball” is also my dad’s as he is a very fast runner. I made some great friendships. Throughout high school I ran track a couple of years and played football all four years. Always competing with dignity and honor.
After high school I began working in boat factories and started a family with the birth of my son Wyatt in 2000. I soon realized I needed to return to school and applied to Rend Lake College part time attending at night. I took computer networking classes, webpage design, business classes and some others.
In 2002 I created a business plan with what I learn from Rend Lake College and SIU SBA group. I took my business plan to the bank for financing. It was similar to a job interview. The loan officer really wanted to know that I was invested in the business and had a plan at all times if a problem would arise. The loan was approved. With the help of my family and friends we built our first 30’x100′ self storage building.
I built my own website for my storage company located here www.SouthernIllinoisStorage.com
Southern Illinois Storage and Aaron Eubanks supports local sports teams, Christopher school and other local businesses.
- Sponsor local Braxton Ragan with Ragan’s Racing Team.
- Sponsor SI Dirt Dawgs Team.
- Christopher School Sports Teams.
- Christopher School Yearbook.
- Donated dolls in the past to the Village of Buckner Christmas party.
- Purchased gift cards from local business to giveaway to our community.
- Donate to High School Bass Club
- Donated supplies for kids playground side.
Soon after our family again grew in 2003 with the birth of my daughter Michaela. Over the years we kept expanding our storage business by adding more storage buildings.
In 2005 I interviewed for a job with the USPS and began my career at the Mt Vernon, Illinois post office. In 2009 I transferred to Benton, Illinois delivering mail as a City carrier.
In 201o-2011 I was on the Village of Buckner board as Park Commissioner. I was one of many volunteers to fix up the park. My main focus was on the playground equipment. Scraping all the paint and taking the old hardware off of the swing sets (with help from the neighborhood kids) that were out there everyday. Once the paint was off the metal was wiped clean. Then I started priming and painting with supplies that my family donated. New hardware and chains were installed. Then we attached the swings seats. Volunteers installed the new basketball goal. Building off of four existing post myself and a few volunteers put together the wooden structure. The slides were donated from West City Park. There were many other volunteers working tirelessly on all the builds, the bathroom and rebuilding the pavilion on the other side of the park. They also put in a sidewalk, new electrical, new bathrooms, a drinking fountain and completely remodeled the other buildings at the park.
See what the park looked like on July 2008 and August 2013.
We moved to Mulkeytown in 2012 and had to resign from the board as Park Commissioner. Even while in Mulkeytown I had residents of Buckner calling me for information.
I got married February 7, 2014 to Stephanie and blended our two families. I gained a Step-daughter Maddy Pinkham and brother-in-law David “Davie” Laurie. We moved back to Buckner in 2018 to the house I help build with my family and made it our home. This is were we are going to stay as we all want the best for our community.
As soon as we move back I created the Facebook group Buckner Illinois Neighborhood Watch on December 12, 2018. Connecting neighbors in the Village of Buckner Illinois. Share information about community issues, solutions to problems, potential dangers, thefts and break-ins. Make our neighborhood safer by “see something say something.” **Report suspicious activity to the police call central dispatch 724-2435** or call Franklin County Sheriff’s Department 618-439-4850 and Franklin County Animal Control 618-439-9197.
While driving around town one night I noticed a street light out. I looked up Ameren Illinois how to report a street light out and shared with the group. I then traveled the streets and found several more lights out. I keep looking for lights that are out because I feel if it’s out that area might be target for crime. I did this for our community because I care, before the thought of becoming the Mayor of Village of Buckner.
I have helped my neighbors remove snow from their driveways, spreading rock, pulled up trees for one, removed a cut down tree for another and removed concrete blocks for several other people in the community. I did this to be a good neighbor because that is who I am. My neighbors are the best and do the same for me as well.
I am running for Mayor of the Village of Buckner. I want to bring our community together working with them to make improvements. Not only improving our infrastructure, but also our relationships as a community. I am completely invested in our community and focused on our future!
Aaron Eubanks
P.O. Box 86
Buckner, IL 62819
618-724-9238
Aaron Eubanks Mayor, Village of Buckner 