Exchange Club of Grayslake Presents Book of Golden Deeds Award
On May 4, 2017, David Raye was presented with the Exchange Club of Grayslake Book of Golden Deeds award. The Book of Golden Deeds award has been awarded to thousands of unsung community leaders since 1919. It is The National Exchange Club's longest running project, recognizing dedicated volunteers who give endless hours of their time and talents toward making their communities better places to live.
David's dedication to Exchange Club has been an inspiration to the entire organization. The Prevention of Child Abuse brought David to Exchange in 2007 and he has been active ever since. He has served as President Elect, President, Immediate Past President and this last year he served as Vice President. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Award in 2015.
Since 2004, David and his wife, Donna, have owned the Goddard School in Third Lake. After two decades as an executive in the corporate world, David's two children, Emily and Evan, inspired him to dedicate his life to delivering high-quality education to children. David's belief that every child deserves the chance to develop to their full potential has led him to develop a program of diversity and inclusion and his kindergarten classes. In 2016 David was awarded The Humanitarian Award by Goddard Systems, Inc. (GSI) franchisor of The Goddard School. The humanitarian award honors a franchisee that 'does well by doing good. This award is given to an individual that has demonstrated devotion to serving those in need and is involved in community outreach on a local and global level. Their Award-winning school is one of the top Goddard Schools in the country.
In 2005, David joined the SEDOL Foundation Board of Directors,which serves the most severely disabled children in Lake County. As the longest serving Chairman of the Board for the Foundation and under David's leadership, the Foundation reached the milestone of raising over $500,000 in one year, allowing them to grant more money than ever to the SEDOL schools and various programs.
In 2009, David & Donna designed and launched the Help Them to Hear program to ensure that every Lake County student who cannot afford hearing aids or other hearing assistive technology gets the financial and practical help they need. More than 400 children in Lake County have been identified with partial or complete hearing loss. Since 2010, over 32 children have been fitted with hearing aids or other technology that has enabled them to develop speaking, reading, and other skills...not to mention enjoying the happy, healthy childhood that each young person deserves.
For 6 years, David has served on the Deacon Board of Christ Church Lake Forest which consists of leaders who conduct all business on behalf of the church. In 2012, David joined the Board of the Hindustan Bible Institute located in Chennai, India. David made 6 mission trips with members of his church, leading several of them. During one 2 week trip David and team spent several days in Chennai, working with the day care center and school, training the providers and teachers the traveled to Siliguri to help establish a day care center and work with their teachers there to provide nurturing environments for the neediest children. They continue to work with the Children-at-Risk in the Siliguri Slums and Red Light District.
In 2015 David became a board member of Bernie's Books Bank in Lake Bluff. He worked with the Chicagoland Goddard Schools to bring books and literacy opportunities to at-risk area children by organizing Book Drives and collected over 105,000 books, the largest donation the charity has ever received. This is now an annual even that continues to bring books to all children in need in the Chicagoland area.
In 2016, David Raye was presented with SEDOL's prestigious Heart of Gold Award. The SEDOL Foundation Board of Trustees created the Heart of Gold Award to honor those who have made significant contributions benefiting SEDOL's special children. These individuals, businesses, or corporations are singled out and recognized for their outstanding leadership, service, and financial support to the Foundation.
David approaches all projects with passion, patience and humor. His leadership style is collaborative and interactive, and exemplifies the team-building concepts that he obviously learned well in business school. He treats everyone with respect and generosity, regardless of how much or how little they can contribute. He is a true Exchangite.
Exchange, America's Service Club, is a group of men and women working together to make our communities better places to live through programs of service in Americanism, Community Service, Youth Activities, and its National Project-The Prevention of Child Abuse. Visit our website for more information!