KCC Everyday Heroes 2013

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Celebrating those who give backReaders, welcome to the 2013 Ev-

eryday Heroes special section!The section includes feature sto-

ries about 23 people who are making Kane County a better place to live, work and play.

It includes touching information about your neighbors and what they have done to help others in their lives, and it includes details about the positive results their work has had on Kane County.

I must say, it was the highlight of my week to read and edit the stories going into this section.

It’s amazing what this group of men, women and even a 15-year-old have done to improve our communi-ty.

Take for example 72-year-old Campton Hills resident Norman Turner.

He is a member of the Fox Valley Court Watch Board of Directors, where he monitors domestic violence cases in court through bench and jury trials.

In addition, he is a court ap-pointed special advocate – or CASA – trained to act as an expert on the individual needs of abused and neglected children in foster care

who are moving through the court system.

And on top of all that, Turner is a phone responder for the Fox Val-ley Crisis Line; he is a community advocate for the Changing Children’s Worlds Foundation; and he is a volunteer for the Community Crisis Center in Elgin.

“Norm is everywhere,” said Deena Duda, volunteer coordinator for the crisis center. “He is a longtime volun-teer of ours, so dedicated.”

You can learn more about Turner on page 4.

And then there is Batavia resident Sue Campbell, who also was nominat-ed as an Everyday Hero.

Campbell volunteers at the Fox Valley Wildlife Center near Elburn, helps with the monthly used book sales at the Batavia Public Library, tutors for the Literacy Volunteers Fox Valley group, and works with CASA Kane County.

“She is just the type of person

who – if you need help – she will help you,” said Julie Brooks, who nom-inated Campbell for the Everyday Hero honor. “She is the only person I know who does more than I do.”

More details about Campbell can be found on page 10.

She and Turner are just two examples of those highlighted in this section.

So, how were the 23 Everyday Heroes selected?

The process all started with our readers, who nominated those they thought were making Kane County a better community.

A team of Kane County Chronicle employees then selected the Every-day Heroes that are featured in this section.

Many fantastic individuals were nominated, which made the selection process a difficult one.

Want to share feedback about the Everyday Heroes section? Comments can be sent to me using the contact information at the end of this column.

Kane County Chronicle. Contact her at [email protected] or 630-845-5368.

Everyday Heroes looks at people who make our community better

Kathy Gresey

EDITOR’SNOTEBOOK

NOW MEET OUR EVERYDAY HEROES ONLINE ...KCChronicle.com.

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By BRENDA SCHORY

Norman Turner is the first to say he’s lived a blessed life and wanted to give back any way he could, especial-ly to help children.

Turner, 72 of Campton Hills, serves on the board of directors for Fox Valley Court Watch, where he monitors domestic violence cases through bench and jury trials.

Turner is a CASA – or court ap-pointed special advocate – volunteer, a phone responder for the Fox Valley Crisis Line, a community advocate for the Changing Children’s Worlds Foundation and a volunteer for the Community Crisis Center in Elgin.

“Norm is everywhere,” said Dee-na Duda, volunteer coordinator for the crisis center. “He is a long time volunteer of ours, so dedicated. If I ask him to help out at information ta-bles, he will always jump in. We gave him the Heart of the Center award for the crisis center a few years ago.”

Though Turner’s other volunteer work is not directly crisis center work, Duda said, it impacts their cause.

“As a court watcher, as a CASA volunteer – all this impacts us,” Duda said. “We’re thrilled he’s doing the work in the community, which im-pacts us.”

Jim Kintz, who helped found Fox Valley Court Watch, said as publicity chairman, Turner has raised the pro-file and awareness of their group all over the county and beyond.

“He has personally visited many li-braries in the county; he’s taken part in awareness of domestic violence at Waubonsee Community College, El-gin Community College and DuPage – all on his own,” Kintz of Geneva, said. “He has spoken to groups on be-half of Court Watch as well as setting up displays and recruiting members. Norm is just fantastic.”

Turner said he got the idea to start volunteering on behalf of abused and neglected children – from a display at the annual Scarecrow Festival in St. Charles 18 years ago.

He’s been a CASA volunteer now for 15 years, he said. CASA volun-teers advocate for children who are

in court due to abuse, neglect or pri-vate guardianship.

It was from volunteering with CASA that he branched out to other child- and family-related charities and efforts, Turner said.

“From my experiences with these kids in the last 15 years, if they don’t get the right type of attention and get things resolved, they will become abusers when they become parents,” Turner said. “It is … to help kids so they don’t have problems when they are adults, and they will have happi-er lives.”

Turner also facilitates a parent-ing group at his church, Cornerstone United Methodist Church in Plato Center.

Turner retired from the James

River Corporation where he worked for 38 years. The company sold var-ious packaging products, such as napkins, sandwich wraps and Dixie cups.

“The areas where I volunteer, it all relates to kids in some way or another,” Turner said. “I spend 20-30 hours a week volunteering, and I have enjoyed it very much.”

‘Norm is just fantastic’Man devotes retirement to aiding children, families

Norman Turner of Campton Hills is a board member of Fox Valley Court Watch, phone responder for the Fox Valley Crisis Line and a volunteer at the Community Crisis Center in Elgin.

NORMAN TURNER

The Turner lowdown

Name:Town of residence:Age:Family:Hobbies:

Fun fact:

Everyday Heroes | 5

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By KARA SILVA

GENEVA – Of Geneva-resident Kari Kraus’s Everyday Hero nomina-tion, Darth Vader of the “Star Wars” film series might say, “The force is strong with this one.”

Kraus, a self-proclaimed “Star Wars” junkie, who also describes her-self as quirky, compassionate, ambi-tious and “unapologetically herself,” has been at the forefront of art pro-gramming in the Tri-Cities since the foundation of Water Street Studios in Batavia about five years ago.

Fresh out of college and at the ripe age of 22, Kraus set out to form the nonprofit, art-education organiza-tion, Water Street Studios, alongside four other founding members.

“I pretty much built the [school of art] program from the ground up,” said Kraus, whose primary passion is art education and appreciation. “I think that being able to bring the [Water Street Studios] school of art [to the area], was the best thing we could have done.”

Jamie Saam, who met Kraus in Key Club while a student at Batavia High School, said she nominated her friend for the impact she’s making in the community through art, especial-ly since art programming is generally the first to go in schools that are expe-riencing cuts to funding.

“[Schools] kind of have this new emphasis on the STEM (science, tech-nology, engineering and mathemat-ics) program, but I am a proponent of the STEAM process, which adds in art,” Kraus said. “My biggest passion is getting people to understand the importance of art in a child’s educa-tion.”

For years, Kraus served as the di-rector of education for Water Street, while simultaneously working a full-time job with the Geneva Park Dis-trict’s Kids’ Zone – a before- and af-ter-school care program.

Of the experience, Kraus wrote in an email: “With WSS being a volun-teer position and me having another full-time job, it didn’t allow for much free time. I chose to explore some new personal and professional ventures with the newfound time that came with taking on a lesser role within

WSS.” Now, Kraus volunteers more

manageable hours as a curriculum advisor at Water Street, teaching art classes to children, including a “Star

Wars” class, where she teams her love of the futuristic franchise with themed art projects and games.

“That was our way to get [children] in, and it just hasn’t stopped,” Kraus said, adding that her passion for “Star Wars” ignited years ago while search-ing for alternative means of connect-ing children with art.

“She connects really well with children and has a big heart,” said Saam, whose own children gush over Kraus’s engaging ability to discuss “Star Wars” at length.

Though Kraus spends most of her time instilling the importance of art in the minds of children, she has had her own success as an artist.

With a bachelor’s degree in art from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Kraus’s own artistic prowess has taken her on two artist-exchange programs in Kumamoto, Japan, and Croissy-sur-Seine, France, where she exhibited work from her niche medi-um, fiber installation.

While in Japan, Kraus also taught Japanese fabric-dying techniques to students at a rural elementary and middle school.

“One reason I wanted to teach [in Japan] is because the basis of all my work, and what got me to France, and what got me to all of these different places, are the techniques I learned in Japanese traditions,” Kraus said. “So, I had to go.”

Many of Kraus’s achievements seem indicative of her passion for the arts and the community that raised her, but she said her interest in com-munity service is one of moral obli-gation.

“I do believe that every single per-son has an obligation to help other people if they can,” she said. “If you want to help ... just do it. Find some-thing that you like and that you’re passionate about; and that you think is important in this world – no matter the severity. If you have good inten-tions, it will all work out.”

A ‘force’ to be reckoned withWater Street Studios co-founder brings art education to community and beyond

Kari Kraus is a co-founder and curriculum advisor at Water Street Studios in Batavia and helps to plan art programs that interest and challenge children and adults. Kraus also plans before- after-school activities for children for the Geneva Park District.

KARI KRAUS

The Kraus lowdown

Name: Town of residence:Age:Family:

Hobbies:

Fun fact:

Everyday Heroes | 7

By NICOLE WESKERNA

ST. CHARLES – Pong Sayasane was 8 years old when she traveled with her grandmother, parents and five siblings from Loas to the United States.

The family of nine left in 1980 be-cause communists in Laos led many people to flee in the country. Her moth-er pawned her jewelry in order to pay for transportation out of the country, she said. She said she remembers leav-ing in the middle of the night to get past border guards and seeking shelter in a Thai refugee camp, where her family stayed for almost two years before com-ing to the United States.

“My mother refused to go anywhere else,” she said.

Sayasane said her family moved to Elgin, where there was a larger Asian population. She went on to at-tend Northern Illinois University and initially wanted to study nursing, but switched to early childhood education. She said growing up in a big family in-spired her to want to work with chil-dren.

Sayasane said her experience as a refugee helped her learn important life lessons that she tries to instill in the children at Bethlehem Preschool Cen-ter in St. Charles, where she has served as an intern, a teacher, assistant direc-tor and now director – a title she has held for the last seven years.

“My philosophy is that children learn through play,” she said. “We’re not an academic focus. It’s more about social development and social emotion-al learning, like taking turns.”

She said she regularly communi-cates with kindergarten teachers to make sure children who go through the program are getting the social tools they need for school. Aside from instill-ing spiritual values, Sayasane said the preschool also teaches children how to be patient, tolerant and kind to others.

Nina Neuber of Geneva said she nominated Sayasane for the Everyday Heroes honor because she has come a long way since moving to the United States and has been able to give back to the community. She said Sayasane “built the preschool at Bethlehem Lu-theran to what it is today.”

“She’s always concerned about

teaching kids about community in-volvement,” she said. “She makes sure kids are learning about ways to give to others.”

Sayasane said when she was living as a refugee, she and her family didn’t have many material things and basi-cally started from scratch when they arrived in the United States. She said it was through the kindness of churches and other organizations that reached out to them that allowed them to get on their feet. She said it taught her that it’s better to give than to receive.

“I’m able to think about the finan-cial needs of parents, and I think some

profit organizations would not take too much of that into consideration,” she said. “To experience what we went

through, I’m able to sympathize with parents’ needs more and that part of family life.”

Coming a long wayLaos refugee passes life lessons on to preschoolers

Pong Sayasane came to the United States as a refugee from Laos and now directs the Bethlehem Preschool Center in St. Charles.

PONG SAYASANE

The Sayasane lowdown

Name:Town of residence:Age:Family:Hobbies:Fun fact:

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By JONATHAN BILYK

During the last seven years, Joe Ninni has had his fair share of big wins, and more than a few losses.

But in those years of coaching youth football, Ninni, of Geneva, be-lieves his greatest victories weren’t reflected on the scoreboard.

Rather, the victories are recorded in the smiles and gleaming eyes of the young players who, perhaps for the first time, felt they had accomplished something.

“I’ve seen boys come through, who maybe have struggled for a long time,” Ninni said. “And then they have a re-ally good game, or a good season, and to watch that kid smile, see how proud he is of himself, that’s what it’s all about.”

As Ninni tells it, coaching has been in his blood since he was a child. The passion was first ignited by his father, who volunteered for youth sports in which Ninni participated.

But it was a passion Ninni didn’t act on until seven years ago when he registered his son, then 5, to partic-ipate in the Tri-City Youth Football Association’s flag football league.

“I eventually got approached about coaching, and I agreed,” Ninni said. “And I’ve just kept doing it.”

For the past five years, Ninni has served on the board of directors for the TCYFA, and for the past three years, has served as the president of the orga-nization commonly known as Tri-City Chargers.

The job consumes much of his time, as the work of administering the league goes year-round.

Ninni, who also owns a small restaurant business in Naperville, said the tasks keep him as busy as his own business.

The difference, however, lies in the pay – as in, he doesn’t get any.

“Everything with Tri-City football is 100 percent volunteer,” Ninni said.

Since taking the top spot at the youth football association, Ninni has helped guide the group through the growing concern over head and brain injuries.

“There’s no doubt, it’s a big chal-lenge,” he said.

He said registration in the associ-ation has decreased in recent years, primarily over such concerns. The as-sociation still boasts about 500 players

annually.“And last year, we had just one

concussion,” Ninni said, a rate he be-lieved to be comparable to other youth sports.

He attributed the relative success at preventing concussions to the as-sociation’s commitment to safety, re-flected in such steps as reconditioning all helmets each season and select-ing teams to ensure players compete against others their own age.

Erin Thiesse, of St. Charles, said Ninni’s leadership has been instru-mental in helping the association to not just continue, but to thrive.

She noted Ninni’s role, for instance, in launching Tri-City youth football’s Little Giants program, in which cur-rent and former youth football players are paired with autistic children from the area for a day of football-related activities.

And she said the football program

also has helped her son, Ryan, 12, who was coached by Ninni two years ago.

Thiesse said her son is naturally shy and reticent, but Ninni’s coaching helped to draw out leadership quali-ties, as well as football abilities.

“Joe took him under his wing, and to see him now, it’s amazing,” Thiesse said. “Joe does so much for the kids and the program.”

In addition to his administrative duties, Ninni continues to coach, as well.

“My wife has told me I should go find a job where I get paid to coach, because I love it so much,” Ninni said. “But to get paid, you’ve got to go to the higher levels, and that’s not what I want to do.

“You see the kids at this level, how they play just for the fun of it, and to see them learn to take pride in what they do – that’s why I want to coach these kids.”

Instilling prideGeneva youth football coach leads Tri-City football association

Joe Ninni is the president of the Tri-City Chargers Youth Football Association, and every fall, he and his fellow coaches work with hundreds of young boys, ages 5-13, instructing them in the game and trying to instill pride, discipline and self-respect to help them grow into young men.

JOE NINNI

The Ninni Lowdown

Name: Town of residence:Age:Family:

Hobbies:

Fun fact:

Everyday Heroes | 9

By JONATHAN BILYK

BATAVIA – Ron Karabowicz didn’t set out to build a robotics club.

But in the last decade, fueled by the passion of the young people at its heart, the club that Karabowicz leads has undeniably taken on a life of its own.

“This is about more than just winning competitions,” he said. “It’s about opening the eyes of these kids, getting them to move beyond the In-ternet, helping them work through something, as a team, and watching the ear-to-ear smiles when that thing actually works.

“Those moments are the best.”For more than a decade, Karabo-

wicz, now known affectionately as “Mr. K,” has coached the Fox Valley Robotics teams.

His involvement began about 12 years ago, when his daughter joined a middle school robotics club.

Karabowicz said he was in the kitchen one evening helping his wife, Judy, cook dinner, when he heard his daughter growing increasingly frus-trated with her project, and went to help her.

“At about 10 p.m., my wife said she was going to bed,” Karabowicz said. “When she came back down at about 3 a.m., we were still working on it.

“Needless to say, I was hooked.”Eventually, Karabowicz took lead-

ership of the team. The club since has expanded, adding students from the Tri-Cities, building robots for various competitions.

Today, the organization boasts 30 teams and 180 students, ranging from first to 12th grades.

Mary Jordan noted that her son, David, was among the first students to benefit from Karabowicz’s coach-ing.

She said his influence has been most pronounced in students from whom he has drawn out such qual-ities as pride, perseverance, leader-ship and “gracious professionalism.”

Jordan recalled an episode in Karabowicz’s first year with the club, when two of the team’s three robots broke before the competition, leaving only David’s robot.

Rather than competing by himself, David allowed the other two students to drive the robot during the competi-tion, as well.

“For me, that was pretty cool, be-cause that was not a side of David that had been displayed to that point,” she

said.“This is about more than building

robots. It’s about building real life skills.”

Jordan said her son, now grown, has pursued a career in computer en-gineering – a decision Jordan credits

in large part to Karabowicz.Many other students also have

used their experience in Fox Val-ley Robotics to make similar career choices, heading into engineering, technology and science-related fields.

Karabowicz said hearing such suc-cess stories makes the volunteer task of running the club, which gobbles up 20-40 hours of his time per week, rewarding.

But every new group of students brings him much the same feeling, as he watches the robots work their magic on the young people.

“It really is most satisfying, to me, to see the light bulb go on in their eyes, when they realize they can ac-tually apply that stuff their learning in school to something as fun and re-warding as making that robot work,” he said.

Building life skillsCoach of robotics teams enjoys seeing students succeed

Ron Karabowicz has run the Fox Valley Robotics Club for more than a decade, helping dozens of kids acquire skills in engineering, math, science, computer science, teamwork, planning and leadership, as they build robots to compete in robotics matches.

RON KARABOWICZ

The Karabowicz lowdown

Name: Town of residence:Age: 54Family: Hobbies: Fun fact:

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By ERIC SCHELKOPF

On any given day, one will likely find Batavia resident Sue Campbell volunteering her time to clean animal cages at the Fox Valley Wildlife Center near Elburn or organizing books for the monthly used book sales at the Batavia Public Library.

But she wears many other volunteer hats, as well, including being a tutor for the Literacy Volunteers Fox Val-ley group and working with the CASA Kane County child advocacy organiza-tion.

To Batavia resident Julie Brooks, Campbell epitomizes the idea of an Ev-eryday Hero.

“She is just the type of person who – if you need help – she will help you,” said Brooks, who nominated Campbell for the Everyday Hero honor. “She is the only person I know who does more than I do.”

Some of Campbell’s time is spent feeding orphaned and injured raccoons, birds and squirrels at the Fox Valley Wildlife Center, as well as cleaning their cages.

“At the peak of the season, we have hundreds of babies at one time,” Camp-bell said. “It takes a kind of person who doesn’t mind wading in raccoon poop, or cutting up dead mice to feed an in-jured crow.”

She knows how important the work is.

“Without the care they get, they would die,” Campbell said.

Campbell is an animal person. She owns four turtle doves, an Amazon par-rot, two cats and a dog.

Besides her volunteer work with the Fox Valley Wildlife Center, she also is a volunteer with the Friends of the Batavia Public Library and sits on the group’s board of directors.

Campbell will sort through and shelve books that are going to be sold in the library’s monthly used book sales, along with recruiting people to work at the book sales. She has a passion for what she does.

“I strongly believe in getting books in the hands of people who want them and need them,” she said.

For the past few years, Campbell also has been a volunteer for Literacy Vol-

unteers Fox Valley, tutoring those who don’t know English as a first language. She has tutored people from different

countries, including Iran and Laos.“I teach them skills on how to live in

this country,” Campbell said. “I have

taught people how to read, so they can read to other children. The best part of tutoring is that we can laugh together. This is their community as much as anybody else’s.”

Campbell said she volunteers in or-der to make a difference.

“I get such a payback,” she said. “I get a feeling that I’ve done something that matters. I get a feeling that I’m making the world a better place for somebody else.”

She also enjoys the company of being around fellow volunteers.

“Part of the richness of volunteering is being with other people who feel the same way,” Campbell said.

One who wears many volunteer hatsBatavia resident has passion for helping others

Sue Campbell volunteers for several organizations, including the Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn, Literacy Volunteers Fox Valley and the Friends of the Batavia Public Library.

SUE CAMPBELL

The Campbell lowdown

Name: Town of residence:Age:Family: Hobbies: Fun fact:

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By ASHLEY SLOBODA

On school days, it’s not unusual for Beth Belich to pull her 15-year-old son, Jay, out of bed.

But on weekends, the St. Charles North High School sophomore has no problem waking up early to help clean cats’ cages at Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin by 7 a.m.

“I guess that’s how his father and I know he’s serious about it,” Beth Belich said.

Jay began volunteering in the an-imal shelter’s “cat country” soon af-ter turning 13 – the minimum age to volunteer – and has since earned the trust of its staff. In addition to help-ing people select cats for adoption, he has taken on such roles as cat-social-ization volunteer and mentor to new volunteers.

Jeff Pal, director of volunteer ser-vices, said only two junior volunteers – ages 13 to 16 – are mentors. Because mentors help build the foundation of the volunteer program, he said, a de-gree of trust is put in them.

“He can mentor anybody,” Pal said of Jay. “He’s a great role model for other junior volunteers.”

Measured by hours, Jay is un-doubtedly one of the South Elgin fa-cility’s most dedicated volunteers. By late September, he had logged 458.25 volunteer hours in 2013, whereas only two other junior volunteers had sur-passed 100 hours. Among adult volun-teers, Jay ranked fifth, according to Pal’s records.

Jay hopes to hit 500 hours before the end of the year.

“There’s something to be said for a teenager that is willing to sacrifice his own time for the good of some-thing else,” Pal said. “That’s rare.”

Allergic to cats and dogs, Jay gets regular shots so he can volunteer, he said.

As a cat-socialization volunteer, he said, he plays with and holds the felines, helping them become less scared.

He helps potential adopters find the right pet by asking them what qualities they want in a cat, if they can care for cats with medical prob-lems and if other cats live in their

house, he said.Jay can easily name all the floor

cats – those allowed to wander cat country – but his favorite is Kai, a big black cat that was sitting in front of

an open window on a quiet weekday afternoon.

“She’s just my favorite,” Jay said.On this day, a Tuesday after

school, Jay is dressed in blue scrubs,

clothing he said he likes to wear when he helps in the shelter’s clinic. There, he said, he does whatever task he can, such as bringing cats back and forth.

He also shadows veterinarians at Gateway Veterinary Clinic in St. Charles, where his family takes their pets. There, he is limited to watching checkups and surgeries because, as he said, “I can’t do anything.”

But between helping at Anderson Animal Shelter and visiting Gateway Veterinary Clinic, Jay is learning what it will take to be a veterinarian, a profession he plans to pursue.

“He’s getting a real idea of how it works,” his mother said, noting that working with animals – especially pets – means working with people.

A friend of animalsTeen spends time volunteering at Anderson Animal Shelter

St. Charles North sophomore Jay Belich of St. Charles has volunteered in the cat room at Anderson Animal Shelter for two years and has logged more than 775 hours of volunteer time at the agency.

JAY BELICH

The Belich lowdown



By AL LAGATTOLLA

GENEVA – Catherine Harrington said that every day provides an oppor-tunity to make a difference in some-one’s life. And she has not allowed many of those chances to slip by.

Harrington, 71, talked of an experi-ence she had when she was working with Kiwanis Golden K, and how she helped spearhead a Christmas project that was successful.

“We had Christmas happen for 26 children,” Harrington said, making sure there was focus on the word “we.” She said “there are a lot of people who help me do what I like to do.”

She said there are countless others like her, and she would know. She has been involved in teaching religious education classes, being a master gar-dener with the University of Illinois Extension (even writing a gardening column for the Kane County Chroni-cle), working as a tutor, being involved in Neighborhood Watch, and working with Cub Scouts and food banks.

“I’ve always found, no matter how much I give away, I get much more back,” she said. “There’s something to the fact that the more you give of yourself, the more you receive.”

Harrington said it’s as easy as step-ping in when necessary, where you can see there’s a need. It’s an attitude that has impressed a friend, Joan Da-vis, who said she has “always admired her get up and go.”

“She’s always moving,” Davis said of Harrington. “She cares about other people, otherwise she wouldn’t do all that stuff.”

Harrington called herself “basi-cally a very happy person.” She is a breast cancer survivor and said she is “still on this earth, and I’m here for a reason.” She said she wakes up “every day, grateful.”

She said she considers herself “very blessed,” saying that she is “in good health and in pretty good shape.” So, she said, she’ll continue to do what she enjoys. And she enjoys giving as much as she can, as well as spending time with her four sons and her grand-children.

Though she now lives in Geneva, Harrington did much of her work

in St. Charles. She moved from Des Plaines and became active in the St. Charles community for decades. She said when she had young children, she did “everything I could” to get in-volved.

And that, she said, just leads to more ways to do more with more groups.

“I don’t think there should be any accolades,” she said. “It’s just what you do when you’re raising your kids.”

The feeling is rewarding, she said, and she can’t figure out why anybody fortunate enough to be in a position to help wouldn’t jump at it.

“I think we all have to see that our time on this earth is so short,” she said. “And if you don’t try to make

a difference in another person’s life, wow, you’ve missed the boat.”

The volunteer spiritGeneva resident finds that giving back is rewarding

Catherine Harrington of Geneva has been a Cub Scout leader, a Kiwanis officer, a food bank worker and a master gardener for the University of Illinois Extension.

CATHERINE HARRINGTON

The Harrington lowdown

Name: Catherine HarringtonTown of residence: Age:Family: Hobbies:

Fun fact:

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By BRENDA SCHORY

Adults in the English as a Second Language program at the Waubonsee Community College Aurora Campus depend on volunteer Bob Brown as their tutor.

Brown, of St. Charles, retired early at 55, traveled more with his wife, found more time to read, took a bronze sculpting class – and then wanted to do more volunteering.

He and his wife already volun-teered at his church, St. John Neu-mann.

“I wanted to be more expansive,” Brown, 66, said. “Waubonsee had a need for an adult tutor, and they took me up on my interest.”

He also joined the St. Charles Ro-tary group and is currently its pres-ident. He has guided the St. Charles bluegrass concert for three years in a row, raising more than $30,000 that the Rotary splits with the River Cor-ridor Foundation.

Rotary uses the funds for local scholarships and organizations; the river group uses funds for improve-ment and maintenance of bikeways along the river in St. Charles, he said.

“Over my work career, I’ve had 30 different jobs, and now I’m a retired CEO of an international association of wireless companies,” Brown said.

Brown started out as the eldest of eight children growing up in Bensen-ville, his go-getter spirit illustrated in his first money-making effort – selling Kool-Aid for a dime a cup at the 11th tee of a golf course that butt-ed up against their back yard.

“It was money for our college fund,” Brown said. “I was 8 years old when I started, and I did it every summer. I’d take my Red Rider wag-on and a Thermos jug.”

Scott Piner, who met Brown through Rotary, said Brown has vol-unteered in dozens of efforts to sup-port and help his local community.

“He has volunteered at the Down-town St. Charles Partnership; he has been Santa during holidays at the park district,” Piner said. “He just looks for ways to serve and give back. He spends 50 hours a week on the Bluegrass concert.”

Piner described Brown as a “stand-out guy” who traveled the world and was not home enough to be as much a part of the community as he wanted.

“He has gone above and beyond – at his age and energy level, he is non-stop,” Piner said.

“It seems like he has two or three doubles. The amount of energy he puts forth into everything is over the top.”

To Brown, he is simply trying to live the Rotary motto.

“Rotary … is a real passion for me. Our motto is, ‘Service above self.’

Humbly, I try and do that,” Brown said. “I’m blessed [to be] able to re-

tire young, and I want every way I can to give back.”

‘He has gone above and beyond’Passion for service leads man’s efforts in retirement

Bob Brown is a volunteer tutor for English as a Second Language, and he is president of the St. Charles Rotary group.

BOB BROWN

The Brown lowdown

Name:Town of residence:Age: 66Family: Hobbies:

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By NICOLE WESKERNA

GENEVA – Tommy Antonson con-siders his mom his hero.

The 11-year-old from Geneva said his mom, Jen Antonson, likes to lend a helping hand whenever she can, whether it’s in the form of donat-ing blood, helping his younger spe-cial-needs sister or buying a Gatorade for someone working outdoors on a hot day.

“She’s my inspiration to pay it for-ward and do good things,” he said, and that’s why he nominated her to be an Everyday Hero. “My mom is my hero because she helps me out so much, and helps my sister.”

Though Jen Antonson says she’s anything but a hero, Tommy is able to rattle off a long list of his mom’s be-hind-the-scenes involvement.

Jen Antonson has worked as a teacher at Mooseheart Child City and School near Batavia for 17 years, but that’s just a blip on Tommy’s list.

Tommy said his mom inspires him to get involved in the community, and in doing so, he has been a big advo-cate for his special-needs sister, Rose. He helps raise money each year to purchase specially fitted bicycles for children with special needs by selling Dum-Dum Pops, and his mom sup-ports his efforts by helping him pur-chase candy.

The family supports the Midwest Council for Children with Disabilities – or MCCD – as much as it can. Jen Antonson said the organization offers services and equipment for children with special needs who aren’t fully covered by insurance, like Rose. The Antonsons try to fundraise for the or-ganization each year by selling raffle tickets. Jen Antonson said the group helped Rose get the hippotherapy – a form of horse therapy – she needs.

Her husband, Jeff Antonson, said his wife should be celebrated for the small ways she helps. He said she nev-er hesitates to stop at the scene of an accident to offer help, regularly gives blood because she has a universal blood type, brings food to give to home-less people when the family travels to Chicago and is “by far and away” the most requested mentor at Mooseheart in the school’s mentorship program.

He said she’s constantly on the go, but always finds time to help the un-derdog and make a difference in the world, however small.

“A lot of people don’t understand the challenges of raising a child with special needs. She does it with a smile on her face and a heart as big as the

sun,” he said. “If I had to describe her, I’d say she’s indefatigable. There’s nothing that can stop her.”

Around the holidays, Jen Anton-son can be found ringing the bell for The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle cam-paign or handing out candy canes or chocolate Easter eggs at a local nurs-ing home. And any toys her kids no longer use go to Toys for Tots. Overall, she said she hopes to set a good exam-ple for her children.

“I try to honestly teach Tommy that it’s always important to put peo-ples’ feelings first,” Jen Antonson said. “For someone having a bad day, [a nice gesture] could mean a lot to them.”

‘She’s my inspiration’Teacher works behind the scenes to give back

Jen Antonson of Geneva sits with her children, Tommy, 11, and Rosie, 7. Antonson is a teacher at Mooseheart Child City and School.

JEN ANTONSON

The Antonson lowdown



By BRENDA SCHORY

Keith Worthington of St. Charles is devoted to service, helping out with Habitat for Humanity and Aurora Rebuild, and washing dishes once a month at Hesed House.

But the Appalachia Service Project is closest to his heart, as Worthington has made 20 trips there in 19 years.

The charity hosts volunteers every summer to aid the impoverished five-state region – including portions of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina – with various building projects.

Worthington said he has helped build porches, replaced floors dam-aged by drainage problems, replaced drywall or leaking roofs, installed cab-inets, painted and put up new porches.

But Worthington said his favorite job there is digging drainage ditches.

“It is the opposite of what I do in my daily life,” Worthington, 46, said of his job with a global technology consult-ing firm. “It’s physically demanding, swinging a pickax and shovel all day for five days. Then we start to build the wall – we use old railroad ties and a chainsaw. It’s hard work, and I love it.”

Worthington discovered the Appa-lachian Service Project when he was new to the Geneva United Methodist Church.

His youngest sister went on a se-nior high school mission trip there in 1993, and he said he saw how it changed her.

“I did not have a chance to go as a youth – I was 27 years old the first time I went,” Worthington said. “It changed me from somebody who was more inwardly focused. I didn’t really know what hardship was. It was my first in-depth exposure to poverty.”

Until a person sees it first-hand, poverty is an academic concept, he said.

“You see a family – a dad on dis-ability from black lung disease from coal-mining trying to raise three chil-dren in a 500-foot shack with a leaky roof and watered-out floors,” Worth-ington said. “To a person, the people … are doing [the] best they can. They

have a lot of strikes against them …. We can’t fix all their problems, but we can make their home warmer, safer, drier.”

The annual mission trip to Appala-chia includes two adults and five teens or young adults for a week. Each per-son pays his or her own way and are hosted by a church, Worthington said.

Kei Narimatsu of Geneva, who goes to the same church, said Worthington took his daughter there 20 years ago. In the last three years, Narimatsu has accompanied Worthington and also found the experience to be life-chang-ing.

But Narimatsu said it also was Worthington who contributed to the success of the experience.

“Because of his enthusiasm and commitment,” Narimatsu said. “It’s

the way he treats the kids and the adults – it’s with service and kindness. He’s just a good guy.”

Worthington is a leader in helping put the trip together, Narimatsu said, as he starts planning in September for the next year’s July trip, meeting once

a month as a group.“Once we get down there, he is not

a team leader any more – he is one of the workers,” Narimatsu said. “He is the one who makes sure that he does as much work as everyone else. He leads by example, not by directive.”

‘He’s just a good guy’St. Charles man loves to serve in Appalachia

Keith Worthington volunteers with the Appalachia Service Project. He’s made 20 church-sponsored trips in 19 years.

KEITH WORTHINGTON

The Worthington lowdown

Name:Town of residence: Age: 46Family:Hobbies:Fun fact:

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By BRENDA SCHORY

Karie Nash was not quite 17 when her mother died of colon cancer in 1993.

Andrea Lynn was 42 and had been sick all through Nash’s high school years.

“She died in February,” Nash, 37, of Elgin recalled. “She was hoping to make it to my graduation, and she hoped to make my prom dress. She worked for a fashion designer, so her boss actually made my prom dress instead. She had already bought the fabric and done the sketches.”

The middle of three children, her older brother was 20 and already on his own, and her younger brother was about 15 and just a freshman at the time, Nash said.

“It was obviously very emotional, and it was a lot to deal with, being a high-schooler,” Nash said. “I was cap-tain of the diving team, and the expec-tation was for me to go to school, get good grades and make something of myself.”

Nash, along with her brothers Brent and Shane Beckwith, found-ed the Andrea Lynn Cancer Fund in 2006, a charity that helps families who are dealing with cancer.

Their aim was to ease some of the stress of others to honor their moth-er’s memory.

“Sometimes it’s a grant to help pay for medical bills; sometimes we pro-vide them with gas cards to go back and forth to treatment,” Nash said. “We helped out a family that could not afford to get air conditioning fixed during a heat wave. It all depends on the situation and how we are best able to provide assistance.”

Their charity is an echo of the sup-port they received during their moth-er’s long illness.

After her parents separated, her father was not around, so Nash often found herself in charge or living with family or friends.

“The way I look at it, we had a re-ally good support group at the time [that] helped us out during the whole ordeal,” Nash said.

Brent Beckwith of Crystal Lake said the charity has given about $75,000 in grants to 50 families over

the last seven years, with some get-ting more than one grant.

The typical grant is $1,000 and cov-

ers many needs that impact a family when someone has been diagnosed with cancer, he said.

“One family did not have a re-liable vehicle to take the patient to chemo treatments,” Beckwith said. “We worked with a mechanic to get it roadworthy.”

Nash said the charity also has done outreach, such as donating more than 200 coloring books and coloring sets to children at the Ronald McDonald Children’s Hospital at Loyola Medical Center.

All of the money is collected during various fundraisers and direct dona-tions, Nash said.

More information about the char-ity is available online at www.andre-alynn.org.

Aiding families dealing with cancerDaughter starts charity with brothers to honor their mother

Karie Nash of Elgin, along with her two brothers, founded the Andrea Lynn Cancer Fund in 2006, honoring the memory of their mother, who died of colon cancer in 1993.

KARIE NASH

The Nash lowdown

Name: Town of residence: ElginAge: Family:Hobbies:Fun fact:


By ERIC SCHELKOPF

The need to help others is ingrained in Batavia resident Julie Brooks.

“My mother, Betty Gmeiner, was a big volunteer,” Brooks said. “Growing up, we were kind of expected to pitch in when my parents were doing stuff.”

For the past three years, Brooks has been volunteering her time at the Bat-avia Interfaith Clothes Closet. Before that, she volunteered at the Batavia In-terfaith Food Pantry for seven years, which shares the same building as the Batavia Interfaith Clothes Closet.

Kim Jacobsen, who has used the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry and the Clothes Closet in the past, appreci-ates Brooks’ efforts. She recounted the day she walked into the food pantry for the first time.

“My children and I had just moved to the area, and I still had not found a job,” Jacobsen said in her letter nom-inating Brooks as an Everyday Hero. “I was discouraged and tired and sad. I never expected that we would be in a place to need help from a food pan-try. I kept my head down as I entered. I didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone. I was ashamed.”

Jacobsen said she found a friend that day in Brooks.

“Her smile was bright and genuine as she asked my name,” she said. “She was my angel that day. She showed me compassion and respect that I had not felt from anyone for a long time. Peo-ple need hope. People need love. Julie gets it, and that is why she is a true hero in this community ... every day.”

Brooks has seen the demand at the Interfaith Food Pantry and Clothes Closet increase over the years as a re-sult of the weak economy. The Food Pantry and Clothes Closet serve eco-nomically disadvantaged residents of Batavia and Batavia Township, which includes parts of Aurora and North Aurora.

“Ten years ago, we saw maybe 150 people a month,” Brooks said. “Now we have more than 300 a month. The way the economy is doing, I am not surprised with the increase in de-mand.”

At the Clothes Closet, she organizes clothes and household items that have

been donated, and will pick up items that are needed.

She also wears other volunteer hats, including volunteering for the St.

Charles-based Homes for Endangered and Lost Pets. In the past eight to nine years, Brooks said she has fostered a dozen puppies and 215 kittens.

Those who foster animals for H.E.L.P. provide veterinary care, food and shelter for stray and abandoned cats and dogs until they are adopted into loving homes.

Brooks ended up adopting one of the cats herself.

“She bonded to me,” she said. “She wouldn’t go to anyone else.”

Through volunteering, Brooks said she gets the satisfaction that she has helped other people. And she is glad that other people appreciate her ef-forts.

“It gives you a good feeling because you are always helping people,” she said.

Helping people in needAssisting others ingrained in Batavia resident

Batavia resident Julie Brooks volunteers for a variety of organizations, including the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry/Clothes Closet and the Friends of the Batavia Public Library.

JULIE BROOKS

The Brooks lowdown

Name:Town of residence:Age: 57Family:Hobbies:Fun fact:

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By JAY SCHWAB

Being a partner in an accounting firm is nothing to take for granted, but Randy Rupp makes it clear what his full-time work would be if he had his druthers.

“I tell my partners here at work all the time that if I could figure out how to get paid to coach youth sports and coach youth baseball, that’s what I’d do, because what’s what my passion is,” Rupp said.

Minus the income, Rupp has man-aged to make his work with the St. Charles Baseball organization as close to a second full-time job as possible.

Rupp was nominated as an Every-day Hero for his countless hours of devotion to the St. Charles Baseball group. He’s also been a longtime coach with the Tri-City Chargers youth foot-ball program.

Rupp’s relationship with St. Charles Baseball traces all the way back to 1995, when a friend, Paul Jones, asked him if he’d like to help coach. Jones was coaching a son’s team; Rupp didn’t have children yet but “absolutely loved baseball,” and decided to give it a whirl.

When Rupp moved to St. Charles in 1999, he upped his involvement, be-coming treasurer.

One of Rupp’s close contacts in the organization is hitting guru Bob-by Roan, who works extensively with many local ballplayers.

Roan said Rupp is an excellent mentor to other coaches in the orga-nization, and inspires loyalty in those around him.

“Randy brings kids up and they stay with him, and they want to stay with him and they want to grow,” Roan said. “Kids want to play with him and continue with him as they move up the ladder.”

While the personal connections Rupp has made have been rewarding, so, too were the recent enhancements to the East Side Sports Complex, the organization’s headquarters.

“The one big thing I think that has really made a huge impact on the boys and our program, as well as the city of St. Charles, in general, has been our East Side Sports Complex,” Rupp said. “Over the last three, four years, we’ve

installed three turf fields over there. Paul and I have both been integral in working with the park district in working to get those fields installed, as well as maintained. Those fields re-ally give our town a major leg up in terms of quality of facilities than most of the towns have, so that’s been kind of fun.”

St. Charles Baseball serves as a feeder program for the high school programs at St. Charles East and St. Charles North, and has proven espe-cially popular for future Saints. It of-fers youth recreation leagues, travel teams and serves as host for numerous tournaments.

Rupp’s oldest son, 14-year-old Zach, is now in high school at East. Rupp has coached Zach in baseball and 12-year-old Alec in football over the years.

“I get just a ton of personal satisfac-tion in knowing – because of my con-stant involvement in their lives – that they’ll always have a dad that they know they can turn to,” Rupp said.

Zach Rupp has even agreed to help his dad this year by serving as a third-base coach.

“That’s one of the things I’ve al-ways imparted to my boys is it’s im-portant to give back,” he said. “ ... He’s gotten a lot from the program, and he knows it’s time for him to give a little bit back to the program.”

The example from Dad on that front

is unmistakable. Jones said Rupp rou-tinely has coached two travel teams in a given season, in addition to tending to his treasurer duties.

“It’s just a thankless job, and he does it because he’s got boys that play, but I know he also loves the game of baseball, and he loves helping kids,” Jones said. “The commitment that he has to it is tremendous.”

The Rupp lowdown

Name:Town of residence: Age: 47Family: Hobbies: Fun facts:

‘A love of coaching’Rupp works extra innings with local baseball organization

Randy Rupp is treasurer and coach for St. Charles Youth Baseball. Rupp is pictured with some of his players, including (from left) Drew Parrine, 12, Nick Manthei, 12, Alec Rupp, 12, and Conner Dunfee, 12.

RANDY RUPP


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By NICOLE WESKERNA

ST. CHARLES – During the last 53 years, Wyonne Hegland has served in just about every capacity at the Congregational United Church of Christ in St. Charles.

While she’s heavily involved in the church and is currently serving a second term as board president, she said the church’s mission work is closest to her heart.

Hegland, who lives in St. Charles, has been on a handful of internation-al mission trips, including one to Guatemala and two to the Domini-can Republic. She said a group from the church helped set up a women’s community center in the Dominican Republic and also came up with a cot-tage industry by decorating flip-flops and selling them.

“If you really want to make a dif-ference and feel like you’re making a difference, take an international trip to a country that’s poor,” she said. “That’s the way to do it.”

She said her church also has helped rehab homes in Biloxi, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina. Lately, they’ve been building homes there for homeless veterans.

“One [veteran] had been home-less for something like 20 years,” she said. “It was really emotionally draining on him to move into four walls. ... If you’ve lived on the streets, under a bridge or a park and come in and actually be inside, that’s quite a shock for them.”

She said she also enjoys serving through her church’s Night Minis-try.

Through the ministry, people from the church go to areas of Pilsen, Lake View and Humboldt Park to serve food to the homeless three or four times a year.

“When you meet those people, and they are so grateful – you hear all the pleases and thank-yous – it just warms your heart,” she said.

In addition to her work with the church and on mission trips, Hegland has been a court appointed special advocate – through the CASA program – for 12 years.

She said she had two cases that lasted 11 years, and though the cas-

es have concluded, she still regular-ly keeps in touch with the children, who are now adults, that she worked with.

“You get so much more when you volunteer than you give, and CASA is one of those organizations,” she said. “I’ve always had a background working with kids.”

Hegland retired in 1994 as director of early childhood education with St. Charles School District 303.

Sue Peterson of St. Charles taught school and attends church with Hegland. She nominated her for the Everyday Heroes distinction.

“I’ve known her for quite a while, and I just know she does so much for the community,” she said.

Hegland’s service doesn’t stop at church mission trips and CASA. She also started a social and professional

group for retired teachers called the Fox Valley Retired Educators orga-nization, which started in 1995 and now has 60 to 70 members.

She’s also involved with Questers International, an international an-tique study group, where she serves as area organizer.

Though she volunteers with a va-riety of organizations, Hegland said they all foster relationships with people, which is most important.

“Whether it’s only an hour long or a relationship that’s longstanding, that’s the important thing in life,” she said.

Fostering relationships with peopleVolunteer serves at church, attends mission trips and more

Wyonne Hegland is an active church volunteer who also does court appointed special advocacy work. She has been a member of the Congregational United Church of Christ for 53 years.

WYONNE HEGLAND

The Hegland lowdown

Name: Town of residence:Age: 77Family:

Hobbies:Fun fact:


By NICOLE WESKERNA

NORTH AURORA – John Grosse volunteers at The Holmstad in Bata-via, but if you ask him, he’s not the one who does all the work.

He leaves much of the socializing up to Pushkin, his 6-year-old standard poodle, who tags along for pet therapy sessions at the retirement communi-ty each week.

“We do social comfort visits,” he said. “Hopefully, when we’re there, we bring a little cheer to people. Some people had dogs earlier in their lives. Some people just enjoy any visitor. They kind of count on us being there.”

Grosse of North Aurora said he started volunteer work at The Holm-stad about four years ago and with-in the last year started volunteering at The Holmstad through Covenant Care Home Health & Hospice based in St. Charles.

Pushkin started his career as a therapy dog after going through obe-dience classes at the Fox Valley Dog Training Club.

Grosse said they later became cer-tified as a team, and Pushkin now wears a tag on his collar that says, “I am a therapy dog.”

Grosse said his late father helped inspire him to start volunteering for hospice and The Holmstad with his dog.

He said his father died 20 years ago and before his death was assisted by hospice volunteers, and seeing how they supported families inspired him to get involved with the organization.

“It’s more meaningful than any job I’ve ever had,” he said. “I do think we do pretty good work.”

Elise Wall, hospice volunteer man-ager for Covenant Care Home Health & Hospice, nominated Grosse for the Everyday Heroes award. She said Grosse and his dog visit hospice pa-tients a few times a week and helps “bring a little joy, compassion and a little light to their day.”

“He’s just so selfless, and he’s very humble,” she said. “He’s just very happy to be helping in any way he can. He’s just a real genuine kind of person.”

Grosse said some people don’t care for dogs, and he respects that. Oth-ers, however, will sometimes flag him

down if they see him at The Holmstad and want to spend a little time with Pushkin.

He said visits usually last an hour and a half total.

“Most of the staff know his name. He gets a biscuit at the front desk,” he said. “We pretty much walk down a hall, and the doors are always open.”

Gross said he recognized that

Pushkin could be a good therapy dog because those dogs have to be espe-cially friendly and well-behaved. He said he can tell when Pushkin gets ex-cited because he tends to sneeze a lot.

Grosse said many other people whose dogs have gone through train-ing courses at the Fox Valley Dog Training Club also volunteer with their pets in the area.

Comfort and cheerNorth Aurora man, therapy dog visit hospice patients, nursing home residents

ABOVE: John Grosse of North Aurora and his standard poodle, Pushkin, have been visiting patients at The Holmstad in Batavia for the past few years. Pushkin is a certified therapy dog. BELOW: Grosse sits with his dog, Pushkin.

JOHN GROSSE

The Grosse lowdown

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By ASHLEY SLOBODA

ELGIN – Katie Storey didn’t fore-see Elgin Community College as her future when she enrolled as a student.

But Storey – who was initially fo-cused on elementary education – said she had an epiphany during a long conversation with her now-boss: she wanted to work in a college environ-ment.

Now 30, Storey is a member of the college’s Office of First Year Programs and Student Life. She has worked at Elgin Community College for the last nine years.

“ECC is the reason why I do what I do here,” Storey said. “I’m indebted to ECC in so many ways than one.”

In addition to exposing students to clubs, activities and volunteerism – and thus helping them become part of the ECC community – Storey is presi-dent of the Illinois Community College Student Activities Association; is in-volved with and takes students to the association’s annual statewide leader-ship conference; and is the event chair for Relay for Life at ECC – an event she helped start as a student.

“She’s a wonderful, wonderful role model,” ECC President David Sam said. “The students can identify with her.”

Elgin Community College gave Sto-rey a scholarship, she said, and she chose to make the most of her experi-ence there.

After graduating with her associ-ate’s degree, she went on to earn two degrees – a Bachelor of Arts in psy-chology and a Master of Business Administration – from Roosevelt Uni-versity. She later earned a Doctor of Education in community college lead-ership at National-Louis University.

A proponent of paying it forward, Storey said she enjoys helping current ECC students.

“I have a truly amazing opportu-nity to help students and help shape their time at ECC,” she said.

For the last four years, Storey has helped lead Project Backpack, an ini-tiative that distributes school supplies to local families in need on a first-come, first-served basis.

Since its inception, the program has given away more than 5,000 back-

packs, Storey said, noting it has grown by several hundred backpacks each year.

A partnership with the Northern Illinois Food Bank this year also en-abled the college to give away 3,000 bags of nonperishable food during the event.

“This year about 5,000 people wait-ed in line,” Storey said. “Some wait-ed eight to 10 hours before the event opened.”

To think that some of the students receiving the backpacks might enroll at Elgin Community College in 10 to 15 years just adds to the experience,

Storey said.“It’s a great opportunity to pay it

forward,” she said.Sam said Storey is an example of

the kind of people Elgin Community College produces.

“We’re obviously very proud of her,” he said.

Paying it forwardECC alumna serves as role model for students

ABOVE, BELOW: Dr. Katie Storey, student life coordinator at Elgin Community College, also leads ECC’s Project Backpack program, which distributes school supplies to local families in need. This year, the program distributed more than 1,800 new backpacks and about 3,000 bags of nonperishable food.

KATIE STOREY

The Storey lowdown

Name: Katie StoreyTown of residence: ElginAge:Family:

Hobbies:

Fun fact:


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By ASHLEY SLOBODA

A community is, by John Rab-chuk’s definition, made up of people who get involved.

He understands other commit-ments – such as work and children – prevent some from being active in the community, he said, but he has been lucky to have freedom with his time.

Seeing others dedicate their time to the community – such as former Mayor Don DeWitte, former alderman Betsy Penny and local business own-ers Bob and Sue McDowell – also has served as inspiration for his involve-ment, Rabchuk said.

“I feel like I need to be part of that,” he said.

And so he has.For Rabchuk – who has spent most

of his adult life in St. Charles – com-munity involvement has ranged from serving as a soccer referee for the Tri-Cities Soccer Association when his children were young, to various or-ganizations, including the St. Charles 708 Community Mental Health Board, the St. Charles Comprehensive Plan Task Force and the St. Charles Kiwan-is Club.

“When you talk to him, you see he’s really passionate about our town,” said Scott Piner of the Downtown St. Charles Partnership.

In addition to working with Rab-chuk on partnership events – Rabchuk helped find high school performers for the St. Charles Jazz Weekend in Sep-tember – Piner said he and Rabchuk also served on a committee for the Nov. 2 bluegrass concert at the Arcada Theatre. The concert was a joint effort between the St. Charles Noon Rotary Club, of which Piner is a member, and the River Corridor Foundation of St. Charles, which Rabchuk is involved with.

“He’s a man of action,” Piner said. “He makes efforts to take a leadership role in an area he feels is helpful.”

But Rabchuk is careful not to over extend himself, he said.

He recently resigned from the 708 Community Mental Health Board af-ter 15 years of service partly because he knew the River Corridor Founda-tion was trying to become more active this year.

“I enjoyed the agencies that we worked with and finding out the net-work that they have and the safety net that they provide to the community,”

Rabchuk said of his time on the board.“I felt like I applied some business

principles to the process of deciding how to allocate the funds that were

available each year.”Rabchuk doesn’t have a goal for

how much he wants to accomplish, he said, noting he doesn’t reflect much about what he has done so far. How-ever, he said, at the end of a project, he might sit back and say, “Wow, that was a really fun thing,” and hope peo-ple appreciated the effort.

In April, Rabchuk was one of four St. Charles mayoral candidates. Al-though he didn’t win, he said his goal wasn’t to be mayor but to make a dif-ference in the city. He said his wife, Cheryl, told him he could still accom-plish some of his goals without hold-ing office.

“He keeps the community front of mind,” Piner said. “It’s great to have people like that who really care about the community.”

‘Man of action’St. Charles resident makes a difference through civic involvement

St. Charles resident John Rabchuk has been involved with the St. Charles 708 Mental Health Board, the St. Charles Comprehensive Plan Task Force and – among other organizations –the St. Charles Kiwanis Club.

JOHN RABCHUK

The Rabchuk lowdown

Name:Town of residence:Age: Family:

Hobbies:Fun fact:


By NICOLE WESKERNA

ST. CHARLES – Glen Kamps said he has watched people lose hundreds of pounds and slowly ween off certain medications after they’ve joined his running club.

He and his coworkers at Dick Pond Athletics in St. Charles organize a running club that helps people who have never been runners work their way toward completing a marathon or half-marathon.

Kamps organizes the second phase of the club called Next Step, which is for runners who can run at least three miles.

The group members meet at 7 a.m. every Saturday, rain or shine, and they run varying 5- to 6-mile routes in the area.

“Once you start running, you start eating better and sleeping better,” he said.

Kamps, 59, said the hardest part about starting a running routine and getting in better shape is taking that first step. He said it doesn’t necessarily have to be running – it can also be bik-ing, or whatever suits a person best.

He said when people first join the club as non-runners, some walk or jog slowly during certain parts of the route.

“You can [become a runner] if you do it in bits and pieces,” he said. “The key is to just do something.”

Kirsten Pond, one of the people who nominated Kamps as an Every-day Hero, said between working as a manager at Dick Pond Athletics and organizing the running club, he works more than 70 hours each week. Pond helps run Dick Pond Athletics, which was started by her father, who died from leukemia. Kamps was the only full-time employee with the company, and Pond largely credits him for ex-panding the business to what it is to-day.

She said Kamps is involved with more than 30 races in the Kane Coun-ty area, and can usually be found on the sidelines cheering on runners and passing out bottles of water.

“Glen is the face of Dick Pond Ath-letics in Kane County,” Pond said. “He has a huge responsibility for the Fox Valley Marathon, so he hosts training

runs and got almost 200 people started before the marathon.”

Kamps said he’s been involved with

the running club for five years. He said when he started working at the St. Charles branch of Dick Pond Athletics,

he wanted to get to know the people in the area better.

In addition to helping people start running, Kamps and the members of his club have made it a habit to look for loose change on the ground during their weekly runs. The group spends all the money it finds at a trip to Aldi to purchase food to donate to The Sal-vation Army.

“Last year, we found over $400 in pennies on the ground,” Kamps said. “[The running club] is way beyond the store and it’s slightly beyond the people running. It’s helping people be-come better people.”

Motivated to runSt. Charles man helps runners reach goals

Glen Kamps heads the Next Step running club at Dick Pond Athletics in St. Charles. Kamps and his runners have a habit of looking for loose change on the sidewalks and roads while running. One year, they found about $400 in loose change, which they then used to buy food at Aldi to donate to The Salvation Army.

GLEN KAMPS

The Kamps lowdown

Name:Town of residence:Age: 59Family:Hobbies: Fun fact: -

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By BRENDA SCHORY

Whenever Mike O’Brien is out and about in St. Charles, random people will come up to him and tell him how wonderful his wife is.

“I get that … because she’s been teaching in the district so long,” O’Brien said. “They come up to me and say, ‘Your wife has done a great job with my son.’ And I say, ‘I agree with you; she’s great.’ ”

O’Brien nominated his wife, Amanda O’Brien, as an Everyday Hero.

She is a special education teacher and administrative assistant at Nor-ton Creek Elementary School in St. Charles.

O‘Brien, 36, has two master’s de-gree certificates, one for reading and another for her role as an administra-tive assistant.

She teaches special education and is a “mom of two busy kids who are involved in the Tri-City Youth Foot-ball Association, swim lessons, gym-nastics and orchestra,” her husband said.

“Kids gravitate to her – she really is a born teacher,” O’Brien said about his wife.

“Her passion is helping kids learn, especially those with challenges and odds working against them. I need more than two hands to count the number of times her coworkers or students’ parents have stopped me around town to tell me how great my wife is, what a positive impact she’s had on the school and how she’s changed students lives forever. I can’t agree more.”

Amanda O’Brien said she teaches reading to both special and regular education students who need extra help in reading.

“I do it for anybody who needs it,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien has been teaching for 15 years, most of those years in St. Charles after she started her career in Naperville.

She and her husband were both raised in St. Charles.

He graduated in the class of 1994, and she in the class of 1995 from what is now St. Charles East High School.

“We started dating right after my

senior year and then we both went to NIU [Northern Illinois University],” Mike O’Brien said. “We got married

in 2001.”While she studied education,

he studied business marketing and

sales, he said.As to the longevity of their rela-

tionship, Amanda O’Brien said both went to Munhall Elementary School and now her daughter has her first-grade teacher.

“We are true townies,” Amanda O’Brien said.

‘A born teacher’Busy mom, teacher finds time to do it all

ABOVE AND BELOW: Norton Creek Elementary School teacher Amanda O’Brien has completed her second master’s degree; is a mom of two kids involved in football, swim lessons, gymnastics and orchestra; and –as a special education teacher –her passion is helping kids with challenges.

AMANDA O’BRIEN

The O’Brien lowdown

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By ERIC SCHELKOPF

Julie Kotalik Bletzinger refers to Batavia 4th Ward Alderman Jamie Saam as “Ms. Batavia.”

“I like to call her ‘Ms. Batavia’ be-cause she puts so much of her time and energy into this city and is continu-ally happy to do so,” Bletzinger said in nominating Saam as an Everyday Hero. “All she wants is to see the local businesses succeed, to promote edu-cational, positive events for families, and to make sure our city government is doing the best it can for our citizens. And she works hard and spends hours of her time and efforts working toward those goals.”

Saam, 30, has a deep love for Bata-via. She is a third-generation Batavian and has lived in the city since the fifth grade.

She is consistently working for the betterment of the community.

She has been on the Batavia Main-Street Board of Directors since May 2011 and has helped out at the city’s Art in Your Eye festival for the past few years.

Batavia MainStreet is a nonprofit organization dedicated to revitalizing the city’s downtown. Last November, she started the Artisan Collective, an indoor flash market that “pops up” once a month at different locations in the city.

“I was trying to give people a place to shop local on a monthly basis,” Saam said.

The market, designed to provide a retail presence downtown – as well as be a venue for local artists, designers and artisans to show and sell their wares – recently received an award for economic restructuring at the annual Illinois Main Street state conference.

“I want the downtown to succeed and be a place that people want to go to,” Saam said.

Other activities include being food and hospitality coordinator at the Batavia Artists Association at Water Street Studios, and board secretary for the Batavia Arts Council.

Saam added to her dizzying list of activities in April when she was elect-ed to the Batavia City Council.

“It seemed like the next level of ser-

vice for me,” she said.As one of the youngest members in

recent history elected to the Batavia City Council, she hopes that she can

serve as a role model to a younger gen-eration that wants to serve.

She does all this while owning her own business, Bulldog Plumbing, with

her husband, Douglas, and raising three young children.

“I’ve got kids, but you can balance it all,” Saam said.

But Saam said she doesn’t consider herself to be a hero.

“We are all called to serve each other,” she said. “The community is your home. It seems like everyone has a genuine interest for helping the com-munity and each other.”

Her children are picking up on her giving nature.

“They already want to donate their toys,” Saam said. “Seeing that makes it all worth it.”

Juggling volunteer work, familyBatavia 4th Ward alderman wants to see downtown succeed

Batavia 4th Ward Alderman Jamie Saam also volunteers for Batavia MainStreet.

JAMIE SAAM

The Saam lowdown

Name: Jamie SaamTown of residence: Age: Family:Hobbies: Fun fact:


By JONATHAN BILYK

In the most legal sense, Cathy Mc-Coy is mother to but one child.

But through the years, McCoy has helped provide a great many more children in Kane County and else-where with mothers, fathers and sta-ble home environments.

Those results have come both di-rectly, as a foster parent, and less di-rectly, through her role as a volunteer and staff member at Kane County’s Court Appointed Special Advocates for children office.

“People see the sad stories, and those do happen,” said McCoy. “But for every sad story, we know of 10 that were successful.

“We see so many more success sto-ries, with children finding a place in permanent, loving homes, or of chil-dren being reunited with their fami-lies.”

In 2001, McCoy, of Hampshire, be-gan volunteering with CASA Kane County, serving as a child advocate.

Such special advocates, appoint-ed by a judge, are tasked essentially with the job of representing the inter-ests of children who are the victims of abuse or who are the subject of re-quests pending in court for a change of guardianship.

But seven years ago, McCoy took on the work of CASA on a full-time basis, joining the staff in Geneva as an advocate supervisor.

In that job, McCoy helps to super-vise about 30 volunteer advocates working in two Kane County court-rooms, each representing children in-volved in those cases.

Often, she said, there are no attor-neys involved.

“Just the families, the judge, and CASA,” McCoy said.

Those who work with Cathy credit her with being an invaluable mem-ber of the CASA team, and a great re-source for mentoring and guiding the volunteers working on the cases.

Elaine Leist, a CASA volunteer and North Aurora resident, said Mc-Coy has done just that for her since she switched from abuse and neglect cases to the guardianship cases last fall.

Leist said McCoy has been “a wealth of information” and “an edu-cator” for her in all things CASA.

“The process is frustrating,” Leist said. “But she [McCoy] has been ex-tremely supportive.

“She reads my reports, gets back to me on them, and she’s available any time, even after hours at home.

“And when I’m there in court, she’s right there with me.”

However, McCoy’s dedication to

less fortunate children has not been limited just to her work at CASA.

About a decade ago, McCoy and her husband, Frank, became foster par-ents.

And in the years since, they have served as stand-in parents for 18 chil-dren, she said, building relationships with many of them in the process.

She said the results have been very rewarding, helping her to expand her family limits far beyond their natural extent.

“We have some great relation-ships,” McCoy said. “They are our ex-tended family.”

Leist said McCoy is a living embod-iment of CASA’s spirit and purpose.

“We all have one goal in mind – the best interests of the child,” Leist said. “We do what we can for the children, a job we feel very seriously about.”

Standing up for childrenMcCoy coordinates volunteers who represent children in court

Cathy McCoy is a volunteer supervisor at CASA Kane County, the organization the court system uses to represent the interests of children who have been abused, neglected or are in need of new guardians.

CATHY McCOY

The McCoy lowdown

Name: Cathy McCoyTown of residence:Age:Family:Hobbies:

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By AL LAGATTOLLA

ST. CHARLES – A couple of years ago, Pat Eddleman thought she might be in for a long winter. Her husband, John, was coming off a surgery, and shoveling snow wasn’t realistic for him.

But after the first snow of the year, she looked out and got a pleasant sur-prise.

Her neighbor, Cody Salter, knew of the situation. He woke up early and cleared the Eddlemans’ area before tackling his own.

“Worried about getting out of my driveway and cleaning off my car, I went outside early,” she said. “When the garage door went up, my car was clean, and my driveway was almost clear. Cody Salter was at the end of my driveway, shoveling snow with a shovel.”

She considered it a true act of her-oism, but Salter didn’t think it was a big deal at all.

“I knew that John couldn’t do it,” Salter said. “I just didn’t want her do-ing it, either. I have no doubt that … John is feeling a lot better. If some-thing were to happen to me this win-ter, he would do the same.”

He continued the task throughout the winter, earning a couple of big fans in the neighborhood. Eddleman noted that Salter would not accept compensation and called him “just a nice young man.”

“My husband saw him,” Eddleman said of a recent encounter. “And he said, ‘There’s my hero.’ “

Salter is the president of the Was-co-based Great Western Properties. Pat Eddleman noted that Salter “is a real estate guy, and he doesn’t have to get up at 5 o’clock to shovel anybody’s driveway.”

“He didn’t do it for anything other than the fact that he’s a nice guy.”

Eddleman said she was impressed that Salter was so willing to help be-cause it wasn’t as if they talked of-ten. But she said he wouldn’t stop at just shoveling the snow. He offered to drive her husband to the doctor. He wouldn’t let her carry heavy gro-ceries.

“He offered to go get food, and we didn’t even know the man except to

say, ‘Hello, how are you?’” she said. “He’s just a nice guy who helped two old people out. And he didn’t do one stretch. He did the whole driveway and then took all the snow off of my car.”

Salter said none of it was all that impressive.

“It takes me a half-hour or an hour. It’s not a huge inconvenience,” he said. “I just woke up early. It was just a couple of times I got up an hour ear-lier than I normally would, and I took care of it.”

He said he believes he is not alone. He thinks people are doing that every-

where. Salter said, in general, people want to help.

“Very rarely do you drive through a neighborhood and someone’s yard

is not kept up,” he said. “And I don’t think it’s because everybody is healthy and doing it. … I think people are good.”

A star with a shovelClearing snow goes long way in couple’s eyes

Cody Salter of Campton Township was nominated as a Kane County Everyday Hero for helping a neighbor with snow removal.

CODY SALTER

The Salter lowdown

Name:Township of residence: Age: Family:Hobbies: Fun fact:

Everyday Heroes | Kane County Chronicle / KCChronicle.com • W

ednesday, November 20, 2013

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