Aurora man named Marklund Employee of the Year
Bobby Hilsabeck, a longtime employee of Marklund, was named Marklund’s Employee of the Year at the organization’s annual employee appreciation event.
A nonprofit, Marklund provides residential, educational and therapy services to children and adults with severe and profound developmental disabilities.
Called the Claire Haverkampf Commemorative Award, the honor is named for Marklund’s founder Claire Haverkampf. It is given each year to the employee who demonstrates the true spirit of Claire through his or her dedication to the residents, community clients and students served their locations in Bloomingdale, Geneva and Elgin.
“The Claire Haverkampf Award is about going above and beyond for the residents, and showing how much we love and care for them,” Hilsabeck said in accepting his award. “When people see me here at Marklund, I pray that is the kind of person they see in me. Thank you.”
A resident of Aurora, Hilsabeck started working at Marklund in 1995 as a developmental therapy aide and bus driver for the nonprofit. Along his career path at Marklund, he worked as the transportation coordinator, the Community Day Services outings coordinator for Marklund’s Hyde Center campus in Geneva, and as the driver for the community integration team, taking the residents on outings into the community.
Currently, Hilsabeck is the equipment assistant where he maintains all wheelchairs and therapy equipment for the 96 residents on the Geneva campus, and even creates specialty items needed by therapists.
His coworkers describe him as “kind, patient, and creative with all things having to do with those we serve.”
Each year, the winner is selected from nominations made by Marklund employees. Once the field is narrowed down to finalists, a committee made up of members of Marklund’s board of directors reads through the nomination write-ups and selects the winner based on who they believe truly exhibits Marklund’s guiding values: attitude, accountability, creativity, compassion and teamwork. Board member Frank Murnane Jr. announced the winner at this year’s event.
The employee appreciation dinner, which took place on Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton, also honored three other finalists: Heather Ravenna of Batavia, Wendy Sanchez Cuevas of Elgin, and Jeannie Stefanik of St. Charles.
In 1954, Marklund’s founder, Claire Haverkampf, agreed to foster an infant named Mark William Lund who was born with Down syndrome and severe cardiac issues. Today, celebrating 70 years of service, Marklund serves 178 full-time residents, nearly 90 students and an additional 27 community clients.
For information, visit www.marklund.org.
Follow facebook.com/MarklundCharity or instagram.com/marklundcharity/.