Stories of Local Impact: Paula and Ray Kinney, sparking connections, strengthening community

Leaders & Legacies: Stories of Local Impact is an ongoing series brought to you in partnership with the Daily Herald and DuPage Foundation. It highlights the inspiring stories of local individuals, families, and businesses who have made or are making a lasting impact for our community through their generosity and leadership.

The series continues with Paula and Ray Kinney of Naperville, Illinois.

Whenever a key community event or initiative has rallied Naperville, chances are Paula or Ray Kinney were in the room where it happened. For nearly four decades, they’ve poured their energy into forging connections, building community, and championing local causes in Naperville and throughout DuPage County.

Through their hands-on involvement in local organizations — from collecting donations behind the scenes to banging the gavel and hollering “sold!” at auctions — they’ve helped raise much-needed funds for local nonprofits to achieve their missions.

Whether planning events for their children’s elementary school or kickstarting organizations that have improved life communitywide, their leadership has had a profound impact.

Learning through service

Paula and Ray met as students at Eastern Illinois University in 1983. After years as friends, they began dating and married in 1989. They have three adult children: Sara, J.R., and Emily.

Ray grew up in Champaign, Illinois, the youngest of five children all born within seven years. “The whole neighborhood did a lot of volunteering for the University (of Illinois), and my dad was in Knights of Columbus,” he said. “It’s not something that was talked about; it’s just what we did.”

In 1979, a job transfer for Ray’s dad brought the family to Naperville. Ray attended Naperville Central High School, where he earned the senior superlatives of Class Clown and Best Ditcher. “Did I ditch school a lot? Yes, but I ditched it to go to work. … I got a job at the Naperville Sun,” he said.

Paula also went to Naperville Central, two years ahead of Ray. Also the youngest in her family, she and her three siblings grew up in Naperville after living on the East and West Coasts. After earning her degree in business marketing at EIU, she worked for Sears Technology Services. The Kinneys’ children attended the same Naperville schools Paula did growing up — Elmwood Elementary, Lincoln Junior High School, and Naperville Central — and she was active in their respective PTAs over the years, running fundraisers and volunteering in their classrooms.

Though Paula graduated from EIU in 1985, Ray didn’t return after his freshmen year. “I was not motivated to be in school, and when it came time (for sophomore year), I told my parents I wasn’t going back,” he said. If that was the case, his parents said, he wasn’t welcome back at home. “I lived in my car for a couple of days, and went back to working at the Naperville Sun,” he said. He stayed in a boarding house on Spring Street for a few months before getting an apartment with co-workers.

At age 19, Ray joined a membership drive for the Naperville Chamber of Commerce. To his surprise and delight, he won and was a guest of honor at a fancy celebration at a local hotel. That led to volunteering for other local organizations with Paula and friends, including the Exchange Club of Naperville and the Naperville Jaycees.

“I got involved with the very first (Exchange Club) Ribfest in 1987 and did that for many years … and then later ended up running the (Jaycees’) Last Fling at age 25,” he said. “Running an event of that magnitude, you work with the city of Naperville, advertisers, sponsors, labor, manpower, volunteers — you learn a lot,” he said, “I would say that was how I was getting my education, through community service.”

.

Volunteering gave Ray the opportunity to take risks in a lower-stakes setting, and he also met people who became lifelong friends and eventual business partners, such as John Lehman, who offered Ray a job working for him and Kevin Brahler at Minuteman Press in Naperville. He declined at first but later worked out a deal to join as a partner in 1990. “We went to Country House in Lisle and drank a bunch of beers. I came home with a plan sketched on a napkin and told Paula, ‘Hey, I’m going to quit my job on Monday,” Ray said.

They quickly grew the Naperville location of Minuteman Press to the largest in the franchise system and expanded through locations and acquisitions in St. Charles, Downers Grove, and Carol Stream. In 1995, they purchased neighboring business, New Beginnings Creative Services, which evolved into Maclyn, a Naperville-based marketing agency. Today, Maclyn works with national brands like Dunkin’, while also serving local and regional local organizations including DuPage Foundation, Special Olympics Illinois, and Oswald’s Pharmacy. In 2014, Minuteman Press merged with longtime affiliate, Blooming Color, a commercial and e-commerce printing company headquartered in Lombard. Blooming Color now partners with brands such as Canva and Minted as well as companies such as Ulta Beauty, Baird & Warner, and PulteGroup.

Championing local charities

Both Paula and Ray have continued to volunteer for local charities, including Little Friends, Hesed House, Loaves & Fishes Community Services, Choose DuPage, and the Edward Foundation.

“The number of organizations they have supported and strengthened over the years is almost impossible to fully capture,” said Bill Murphy, president and managing partner of Maclyn. “Whether through philanthropy, volunteerism, civic leadership, or mentorship, Paula and Ray have consistently invested their time, talent, and resources in making DuPage County a better place.”

While Ray often raises his hand to be emcee or auctioneer, Paula prefers to stay behind the scenes. One cause especially close to their hearts is the JWEGSTRONG Foundation, founded by the Wegner family of Naperville in honor of their son, Justin, a Naperville Central grad who died of cancer in 2019. “It was a very sad, hard time watching our neighbors go through that,” said Paula, who has helped Justin’s mother Cathy collect donations for the foundation’s fundraisers. “They are incredibly strong and we are just lucky to be there to help.” Both Ray and son J.R. serve on the board of the foundation, which continues to award scholarships to Central students in Justin’s memory.

At times, Paula and Ray have worked side by side to co-chair fundraisers, like the annual auction for Little Friends, a Warrenville-based nonprofit providing resources for people with autism and physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities. “It’s a huge undertaking and they just stepped in and helped make it happen,” said Mike Briggs, president and CEO of Little Friends. “I don’t want to understate the element of time that it takes to make these kinds of events work and make sure everyone enjoys themselves.”

Ray was introduced to Little Friends in high school through a classroom volunteer initiative to teach swimming at the YMCA. “I was paired with Paul, who was 32 years old and had Down syndrome,” he said. “He was deathly afraid of the water. I couldn’t even get him to put his swimsuit on. But by the end of the semester, he’d see me and jump into my arms … I fell in love with volunteering at that moment in time.”

Ray joined Little Friends’ board of directors in 2015 and is now vice chairman. “The thing I appreciate more than anything is Ray’s unwavering passion for helping the people we serve and his desire to make a difference,” Briggs said. “When we talk about things we can do to make the organization better, he is always right at the front saying, ‘How can we do this and how can I help?’”

In 2012, the Kinneys helped launch a Kentucky Derby-themed fundraiser for Hesed House, an Aurora-based nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness. “That was the first time I got to work with Ray, and he absolutely put his signature on it ... which is: We are going to do good, and we are going to have a damn good time doing it,” said Ryan Dowd, interim executive director. The tradition continues to this day, with guests forgoing gala formalwear for whimsical hats. “For a number of years, (Ray) was the auctioneer for the Kentucky Derby auction, and he would be basically hoarse and drenched in sweat and just spent by the end of the night,” Dowd said. “He just poured himself out until there was nothing left at the end of the evening, which is very emblematic of Ray.”

Ray is particularly passionate about Hesed House’s mission to support unhoused people. “Not that I’ve talked about it a lot, but I’ve been there. Now, it was out of my own making that my parents cut me off — it was tough love, and I (eventually) did have a great relationship with my parents — but I know that when you don’t have anywhere to go, it’s hard,” he said. “That experience taught me that we are all one decision or one catastrophic change away from being homeless.”

A cheerleader for Naperville

Through his volunteerism and leadership, Ray has played a major role in shaping the civic landscape of Naperville. He served as president for the Naperville Chamber of Commerce and was a founding member of the Naperville Development Partnership in 1996. “One of my goals as president of the chamber was to create an economic development organization for the city of Naperville that would be a voice for business,” he said.

Ray went on to champion economic development efforts at the county level, supporting Mike Skarr's creation of DuPage Biz in 2005. “We held numerous focus groups and community meetings, and we eventually came up with Choose DuPage as the name,” says Ray, who served on the board of directors for the agency and helped advance its goal of growing and retaining businesses in DuPage County.

Ray was a founding member and past board president for the Naperville Education Foundation and a founding member of the Naperville Parks Foundation. He also served on the boards of the Naperville Heritage Society and Millennium Carillon Foundation.

To acknowledge Ray’s lifelong contributions with the Naperville Jaycees, the group named him a Jaycee Senator in 2017, the highest honor awarded by Junior Chamber International, the Jaycees’ parent organization. To date, he is one of only four Naperville Jaycees to receive the title. In 2017, Naperville American Legion Post 43 named him Citizen of the Year for Service to Community.

Ray had been serving as chair for North Central College’s Board of Trustee Associates when in 2000, NCC president Harold Wilde asked Ray to join the Board of Trustees. “I was intimidated, walking in as a young trustee, seeing all of these giants of the community,” he says. “I used to say, ‘I don’t even have a college degree, what do I know?’” Wilde ensured Ray could never use that line again when the college awarded him its first-ever honorary degree in public service in 2010.

Ray became chair of the board in May. “Ray is an incredibly generous soul. I don't think I can think of anyone more generous — and genuinely so,” said Dr. Abiódún Gòkè-Pariolá, North Central College’s current president. “He’s very effective as a leader, trying to move things forward and resolve conflicts, and since he has become chair, he has been very thoughtful and strategic. He’s very good at building bridges.”

Forging connections

Ray has always had a knack for getting ideas moving and uniting others to get more done.

His efforts to connect and communicate have benefited those around him for decades, said Stephanie Penick, founder and publisher of Positively Naperville, an independent newspaper and website.

“Ray is a big ‘Let’s all work together’ kind of person,” said Penick. They spent years volunteering together at the Naperville Chamber of Commerce, and Ray was instrumental in getting Positively Naperville off the ground in 2001. “When I had the idea to start it, I asked him if he could print it for me. He said, ‘I can’t do that, but I know someone who can,’” she said. “He helped me get sponsors to get started because he knew everybody in town.”

In the earliest days of email, Ray assumed the role of town crier.

“In the ’90s, Ray had all these email addresses for everyone he knew,” said Stephanie Penick, founder and publisher of Positively Naperville, an independent newspaper and website. “People would say, ‘Hey Ray, we’re doing this thing. Can you help us get the word out?’ And he would send out these mass emails saying, ‘FYI everyone, this is happening.’”

Today, Ray uses social media in much the same way, to share community news and amplify the messages of others online. Forging an in-person connection, however, never gets old. “Seeing connections has always been second nature to me, and something I truly love is getting people together who haven’t met before who I see have something in common,” he said.

He loves connecting people with worthy causes, especially when it comes to getting young people into volunteering. “Ray always wants to keep the whole community involved and encouraged all ages to volunteer by doing things that are age-appropriate,” Penick said. “Even little kids can help with something, like weeding at a park.”

Bringing in the next generation of volunteers is crucial to help bolster the future of community organizations, Ray said. “You don't have to be on a board to be a champion of something.”

The Leaders & Legacies series is brought to you by the Legacy Society of DuPage Foundation. Suggestions for future stories can be sent to Kelly Fallon-Wilson, marketing project coordinator, at kelly@dupagefoundation.org.

Interested in learning more about how you can make an impact or create a legacy for your community and favorite causes? Learn more at dupagefoundation.org or contact us at (630) 665-5556. DuPage Foundation is located at 3000 Woodcreek Drive, Ste. 310, in Downers Grove, IL 60515.