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The Frankfort Station 110917
The Frankfort Station 110917
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4 | November 9, 2017 | The frankfort station news<br />
frankfortstation.com<br />
‘It’s a huge success no matter what’<br />
LW Foundation’s<br />
Dinner Gala aims<br />
to benefit students’<br />
academic success<br />
Jason Maholy<br />
Freelance Reporter<br />
The Lincoln-Way Education<br />
Foundation has raised<br />
more than $4.2 million<br />
geared toward improving<br />
the academic opportunities<br />
in Lincoln-Way Community<br />
High School District 210<br />
since its inception in 1994.<br />
The foundation looked to<br />
add to that total at its annual<br />
Dinner Gala, which has become<br />
the nonprofit organization’s<br />
largest annual fundraiser<br />
over the past decade-plus.<br />
The Gala was held Oct. 28 at<br />
the new-look Odyssey Country<br />
Club in Tinley Park.<br />
The Gala typically raises<br />
between roughly $30,000<br />
and $50,000, depending on<br />
how many people attend, according<br />
to Foundation Executive<br />
Director Bob Kennedy,<br />
a longtime Foundation board<br />
member who was named to<br />
his current position in September.<br />
The event featured<br />
dinner, dancing, silent and<br />
live auctions and music provided<br />
by band students from<br />
the Lincoln-Way East jazz<br />
ensemble.<br />
The foundation was created<br />
as the fundraising arm<br />
for District 210 and exists<br />
for the sole purpose of generating<br />
funds that go toward<br />
helping students achieve<br />
academic success, Kennedy<br />
explained as guests filed into<br />
the renovated banquet hall.<br />
The Foundation has provided<br />
funds for electronic message<br />
boards and Wi-Fi at all three<br />
high schools, as well as software<br />
that enables students<br />
to compose music on their<br />
MacBooks, among numerous<br />
other things in its 23 years of<br />
existence, Kennedy said.<br />
(Left to right) Lincoln-Way Education Foundation Executive Director Bob Kennedy,<br />
Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 Superintendent Scott Tingley and<br />
Foundation President Dave Zang pose for a picture in the lobby of Odyssey Country Club,<br />
where the Foundation held its annual gala fundraiser on Oct. 28.<br />
Photos by Jason Maholy/22nd Century Media<br />
“We’re not buying football<br />
uniforms, we’re not buying<br />
cheerleading outfits,” he<br />
added. “Our moneys are being<br />
used to help kids achieve<br />
academic success, and bring<br />
kids up the highest academic<br />
level at all three schools.”<br />
Until this year, the Gala<br />
had been traditionally held<br />
every February around Valentine’s<br />
Day, under the theme<br />
“The Love of Lincoln-Way.”<br />
With the host venue undergoing<br />
renovations early this<br />
year and the banquet hall<br />
unavailable, the foundation<br />
moved the event to October.<br />
The event in some years has<br />
drawn as many as 400 people,<br />
while in other years for<br />
various reasons it draws less,<br />
Kennedy said, noting about<br />
160 were expected this year.<br />
“It doesn’t mean it’s not a<br />
success – it’s a success assuming<br />
we can raise some<br />
money and give it back to<br />
these kids to help them academically,”<br />
Kennedy said.<br />
“It’s a huge success no matter<br />
what.”<br />
Kennedy served on the<br />
foundation’s board of directors<br />
for 12 years and got<br />
involved after seeking opportunities<br />
for community<br />
volunteerism. The concept<br />
of raising money to aid students’<br />
education – he has<br />
two children who have since<br />
graduated from District 210 –<br />
was perfect.<br />
“I can’t think of anything<br />
better than to go ask<br />
businesses and individuals<br />
‘would you like to buy a raffle<br />
ticket, or would you come<br />
to a dinner gala and come bid<br />
on stuff’ knowing that money<br />
has helped my kids and everybody’s<br />
kids in the community,”<br />
Kennedy said. “The<br />
appeal was that it wasn’t for<br />
me personally, it was helping<br />
other people. It was something<br />
to give back, something<br />
positive.”<br />
Kennedy emphasized the<br />
focus of the foundation is<br />
on the students, and in that<br />
spirit the Gala this year provided<br />
a means to showcase<br />
the talents of student band<br />
members. A jazz ensemble<br />
composed of youths from<br />
all three schools entertained<br />
guests before dinner, and a<br />
string ensemble provided the<br />
mood music during the meal.<br />
“We believe music and<br />
academics, the arts, is all tied<br />
together,” Kennedy said. “It<br />
helps these kids get a real advantage<br />
and be well-rounded,<br />
and we thought it was really<br />
appropriate to have these kids<br />
come and entertain and provide<br />
some background music.<br />
It’s really all about the<br />
students.”<br />
Foundation External Vice<br />
President Jamie Viebach said<br />
planning and organizing the<br />
Gala is a major undertaking,<br />
but one in which the entire<br />
Lincoln-Way community<br />
comes together to make possible.<br />
Nearly 100 businesses<br />
contributed prizes for the<br />
raffle drawings and auctions.<br />
“It’s one of those things<br />
that take a village – or five<br />
communities, in any case,”<br />
Viebach said, referring to<br />
Mokena, Frankfort, New<br />
Lenox, Manhattan and Tinley<br />
Park, which comprise District<br />
210. “We have so many<br />
wonderful businesses and<br />
individuals in these communities<br />
who donate to us and<br />
Nick Forlenza, a member of the Lincoln-Way East jazz<br />
combo ensemble, plays the keyboard during the Lincoln-<br />
Way Education Foundation’s dinner-dance fundraiser.<br />
Colin Curatolo performs with the jazz ensemble.<br />
make sure we have incredible<br />
silent and live auctions, and<br />
people work their tails off to<br />
ask businesses for contributions<br />
and to collect the items.<br />
“It’s a ton of work, but we<br />
have a beautiful event. [The<br />
contributions are] incredibly<br />
generous and I think it just<br />
goes to show how much our<br />
community supports the high<br />
schools and the students.”<br />
Foundation Board of<br />
Directors Secretary Karl<br />
Landenberger is a 1998 graduate<br />
of Lincoln-Way High<br />
School and got involved with<br />
the foundation as a way to<br />
give back what the district<br />
gave to him.<br />
“I went through the schools<br />
and I think they made me<br />
who I am today,” Landenberger<br />
said. “So, I choose to<br />
give my time back to them<br />
because of what a great district<br />
it is.”<br />
Landenberger was at the<br />
Gala with his wife, Brittany,<br />
who had bid on several auction<br />
items including an essential<br />
oils package, Hamilton<br />
tickets, and an at-home wine<br />
tasting that includes a cooking<br />
class at Tin Fish.<br />
Wendy Braun, a mother of<br />
two District 210 graduates,<br />
was also among the attendees.<br />
“It’s a fantastic school district<br />
and the Foundation does<br />
amazing things throughout<br />
the community,” Braun said.<br />
Braun was checking out<br />
some of the auction items<br />
with her friends, Jennifer and<br />
Carlos Chillon. The Frankfort<br />
couple are the parents of<br />
two District 210 graduates<br />
and have another at Lincoln-<br />
Way East.<br />
“They offer so much,” Jennifer<br />
said of the foundation.<br />
“Our kids get so much above<br />
and beyond what they would<br />
get without the support of the<br />
foundation.”
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