Lewis wins Buffalo Grove Rotary’s Bill Reid award

A social worker at Aptakisic Junior High School received the Rotary Club of Buffalo Grove’s 2024 Bill Reid Community Service Award.

The award, given out every year in honor of the late Buffalo Grove trustee, who died in 2000 and was known as “Mr. Buffalo Grove,” honors the long-term commitment by community members to the village.

The award is typically presented for the year prior during the following calendar year, but it was presented later than usual this time around, village officials said.

This year’s recipient, Carolyn Lewis, was honored at Monday’s village board meeting.

In addition to her duties with the school, Lewis belongs to the BG Singers and is secretary of the Vernon Township Mental Health Board.

She has run after-school programs, collected and distributed items for those displaced by the war in Ukraine, and supported the Buffalo Grove Rotary’s annual Holiday Food Box program.

“I love living in Buffalo Grove, I love working in Buffalo Grove, and everything I do is for and around Buffalo Grove,” she said. “Being in the spotlight for something is not really my thing, it's very appreciated though, and I will continue to serve.”

The Rotary Club will make a donation of $500 in her name, as well as $250 to the Rotary Foundation and $250 to the charity of her choosing, the Pinta Pride Project, which sponsors the annual Buffalo Grove Pride Parade.