Red Cross may cancel Hometown Heroes awards

The local American Red Cross might drop its "Hometown Heroes" award program due to a loss of sponsors.

The program, started in 2003, honors people for their contributions to society in several categories, including adult and youth Good Samaritans, medical hero, environmental hero, military hero and public safety hero. The ceremony is scheduled for March 12.

The Fox River Chapter has lost its presenting sponsor, which was to donate $7,500. Only three others have agreed to donate $2,500 apiece as category sponsors. The group also has lost its videographer and florist.

Some previous sponsors are fighting to stay in business, said Kay Catlin, the chapter's development director.

"Everybody has a bottom line," she said. "It is not as easy to be generous."

It costs the chapter $5,000 to $6,000 to run the awards event. The money is mostly spent on food and plaques, which have been given out at a breakfast ceremony for 300 at Eagle Brook Country Club in Geneva. The club donates the room rental; a printer donates publicity materials, programs and nomination forms; and in the past, a videographer provided two-minute vignettes about each of the winners.

"It is like a wedding in the morning," said Catlin.

Catlin said it also is the chapter's largest annual fundraiser; it has netted as much as $25,000 in years past.

"Not only do we need to make money (on the event), we need to not lose money," she said.

If the ceremony is scaled back, perhaps to a presentation sans food in an auditorium, chapter officials question whether it would be a cost-effective use of their and employees' time to produce it, Catlin said, in light of the chapter's ongoing overall financial struggles.

Charging admission to the breakfast was ruled out in the past, mostly because the majority of the attendees are nominees and relatives of the nominees, and the chapter didn't think it was polite to ask them to pay to attend, according to Catlin.

"That is a decision we could make as well," she said.

Catlin expects the chapter to decide by the end of the month whether it will go ahead with the program.

Those interested in making a donation can contact her at development@foxriver.org, or call (630) 443-8844.

Past heroes

The Fox River Chapter of the American Red Cross has handed out the "Hometown Heroes" award in several categories, since 2003. The following people were honored in the "Adult Good Samaritan" category:

2009: Jim Wheeler, for starting the Toys for Kids drive.

2008: Tom Wangler, for rescuing two people whose canoe had overturned in the Fox River.

2007: F. Shellie Reed, Drew Morganegg and Daniel Kleinwachter, for actions that saved the lives of two children involved in a fiery automobile crash on Interstate 88.

2006: Paul and Mike Ruby and Steve Warrenfeltz, for their "Bash for the Bayou" fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

2005: Doug Peterson, for pulling a 90-year-old woman from her car seconds before it was hit by a fast-moving freight train.

2004: Ann Fink, for her overall efforts to help people in need, whether bringing soup to Lazarus House, visiting prisoners at the Illinois Youth Center, or inviting a foreign student intern over for home-cooked meals and holiday celebrations.

2003: Terri Simic and Patty Malloy, for saving the life of a 2-year-old boy when he collapsed with a febrile seizure at a park. Simic managed to dislodge the boy's tongue from his throat, enabling him to breathe, and Malloy aided the boy's grandmother, who had gone into shock on account of the incident, in reaching the boy's parents.