Geneva ad man a mad man in quest to get kids off street

This is not the sort of advertising campaign you would see launched by the fictional Don Draper and those scotch-drinking, chain-smoking, women-chasing advertising executives on TV's "Mad Men."

Blake Ebel, a 41-year-old Geneva husband and dad who holds the Draper-like title of executive creative director for Euro RSCG's Chicago office, is real. And Ebel's latest ad blitz, while certainly an eye-catcher, is as wholesome, and pure, and good, and well-meaning as it gets.

"It's all about the kids," Ebel says of the children in Off The Street Club, a haven in Chicago, where brutal murders of school kids have captured national attention.

"With all the violence on the West Side, now is the time to care, to do something," says Ebel. "It's a lot cheaper to invest in this club than to do some other things. People are wondering what to do and how to help, and this club is a great example of something you can do."

The Off the Street Club has been a Chicago institution since its founding in 1900. Located in West Garfield Park, "it's been supported 109 years now by the ad community in Chicago," says Bob Ebel, 69, Blake's father and an advertising executive during the years when he was raising his family in Wheaton. He helped create the iconic "My bologna has a first name" ad for Oscar Mayer on a back porch in Wheaton. It wasn't until later, when his production company was asked to do a film for the club, that he fell in love with the charity.

"I was taken aback by what people are doing for these kids. I got involved in a few different ways and the next thing I know I'm elected to the board of directors," says the elder Ebel, who adds that "I've done two films for them, and both times there were gunshots on the street while I was there."

Blake Ebel's recent all-volunteer campaign to "Take a Kid Off the Street" featured life-size photographic cutouts of kids placed on Michigan Avenue. Every time someone donated $10 to help a child, they'd take a cutout kid off the street.

"Giving is so down this year, so we're trying to get a little from a lot," Blake Ebel explains. "We're asking for as many people as we can to give a little bit. My goal is to get 100,000 people to give $10."

Under the direction of legendary executive director Ralph Campagna, who grew up as a kid in the club, the Off the Street Club offers thousands of kids from ages 4-18 a haven from drugs, gangs and violence. Kids take an oath, give and receive hugs, go to camps and aren't allowed to swear, fight or be disrespectful. About 400 kids a day stop in to get homework help, work on computers, play music, dance, perform plays, learn and have fun.

"He (Campagna) is a true saint. I've never met a more wonderful and loving man," Blake Ebel says. "It's an amazing place and he's an amazing guy. I just want to help him so desperately. He's devoted his whole life to these kids and nobody knows about it."

The Ebels are trying to spread the word to the suburbs.

"I'm a very fortunate guy. I live in downtown Geneva and I have a real nice job," says the younger Ebel, who lives with his wife, Tracy, and sons Jordan, 16, and Nolan, 13.

"These kids are born into a mess," he says of the children who turn to Off the Street Club. "This club is their way out."

The club is an oasis "parked in the middle of four gangs," Blake Ebel says, explaining how each street corner is run by a different group of thugs.

"I was at the club and Ralph had about 75 kids in a room with me. He said to the kids, 'How many of you have had someone in your family shot?' Every single kid raised their hand," Blake Ebel says. "You sit there and go, this isn't right. This is so wrong."

The two generations of Ebel men know a good ad sticks with people. The faces in the Off the Street Club have that kind of impact.

"When you look at their little faces, you know they want better- These kids are real, and their hearts and souls are real," says Blake Ebel, who says those children moved the admen and adwomen in his firm. "We made it real for them instead of just some ad. It opened eyes to where I think it changed their hearts long-term."

To donate or find out more about Off the Street Club, visit www.offthestreetclub.org or www.otsc.org.