Kishwaukee United Way's Annual Meeting

Annual Meeting press release.

The 2008 Leo Olson Award Winners

The Leo Olson Award was established in 1989 to honor Leo Olson for his many contributions to, what was then, the DeKalb United Way.  Leo’s commitment to the organization started in the early 70’s when he was recruited to co-chair our annual campaign.  Following that, he served as Campaign Chair and President, and remained actively involved in local United Way efforts until his death in 1989.  The award named for Leo recognizes each new nominee’s commitment to United Way and an unflagging spirit of volunteerism and service.

The first honoree is a corporation extremely active in all facets of our community. To quote from their own tenets, “They are a strong, innovative, and responsive institution who has been serving DeKalb County for more than a quarter of a century. They are proud of their decidedly local touch that comes from being connected to a community that they love.” This love of community and philosophy of giving back has been evidenced for our local United Way in the following ways: Their employees and the corporation have participated in employee campaigns for Kishwaukee United Way. The company has been a past sponsor of our Taste of the Vine event, as well as encouraging staff participation on the Taste planning committee.  This last year, their DeKalb Avenue location in Sycamore was a strong partner and co-sponsor of our 3rd annual Day of Caring Kick-off and volunteer event.  They allowed us to use their venue, worked with us on logistics, provided volunteers throughout the day for projects and on-site help, and jump-started our new Caring Collections initiative by having 100% employee participation in the collection of in-kind items for United Way partner agencies.
On behalf of United Way want to thank them for their selfless dedication of time, commitment and resources which help to make our community as strong as the ideals that they hold central to their business.  

It is my pleasure to present the first 2008 Leo Olson Award to the American National Bank of DeKalb County.

I have worked with the second recipient of the Leo Olson Award for a number of years in my tenure as Director of United Way.   This person has served in numerous roles, both formally and informally.  He has made contributions in many areas, including serving as President.  His work has not been limited to the support and perpetuation of our organization, as he has also held leadership positions on the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Board of Opportunity House in Sycamore, is active in St. Mary’s Church and has served on the Board of the DeKalb County Community Foundation, to name a few. He has likely made numerous contributions of time, talent and resources to a number of non-for-profit groups in our community through both his professional work and his volunteer efforts. Most notable in his service to Kishwaukee United Way was his work on the Transition Team as we merged the Sycamore United Fund with the Dekalb United Way in 2004. His vision, perspective and work behind the scenes was valuable in taking our organization to the next level then, and he continues to do so via his work on important initiatves like our newly formed Strategic Planning Team. When one thinks of successful leader, a number of words come to mind: dedication, perseverance, sacrifice, and hard work are among them.  This long-time volunteer possesses all of these traits.  We have often looked to him for direction and ideas. He is a mentor to new members, has worked to foster relationships which have benefited our organization and our campaign. He embodies the principles upon which this award was founded, and does so with quiet leadership, humility, good humor and the highest of standards.