North Aurora girl among Kane Co top citizens

Type 1 diabetes might keep Emily Laughead busy checking her blood sugar eight to 10 times a day, but the 12-year-old still finds time for charity.

In the last eight years, the North Aurora girl has helped raise more than $40,000 for diabetes research all while earning straight As at Aurora's Herget Middle School, where she also participates in the band and is on the student council and math team.

“Emily is and will continue to be a model for others to follow,” Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez said Wednesday in naming her a 2010 Roscoe Ebey Citizen of the Year.

Laughead was one of three people honored this year with the award, which recognizes Kane County residents who make a difference in their communities.

Perez said Laughead, who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 4, is a determined fundraiser and motivational speaker who has met with powerful politicians and put on her own charity sidewalk sales to further her cause. She also maintains a website, EmilysHope.org.

In her acceptance speech, Laughead said she wants to find a cure for diabetes, so people “don't have to live with this horrible disease anymore.”

“I hope we get a cure soon,” she said.

Also honored with Citizen of the Year awards were Pat Graceffa of Sugar Grove and Geneva Alderman Dawn Vogelsberg.

Perez credited Graceffa with “tireless efforts in making Sugar Grove a community of friends,” citing an weekly e-mail blast she sends with updates on local events and fundraisers.

Graceffa also is president of the Sugar Grove Library Friends group and volunteers each year with the village's farmers market and Corn Boil.

“I just love the town,” Graceffa said. “There are so many people more deserving, so I feel it's an award for all of us.”

Vogelsberg, who was elected in 2004, is co-founder and executive director of the Paul Ruby Foundation for Parkinson's Research, which raised more than $300,000 in its first four years, Perez said. She also has served as a director of Kane County's emergency call center, a PTO member and co-chair of the Sixty Men Who Cook group.

“Dawn gets things done and rarely says no,” Perez said. “She is a shining beacon of someone who relentlessly gives back to the community she loves.”

The Ebey Award is named after an elderly World War II veteran who was murdered in 2007 in Aurora Township. The first recipient was a neighbor who jeopardized his own life to catch Ebey's killer, who recently pleaded guilty.