The Education Center to Honor Liz and Norm Zienty, Ray McGury, Hossein Jamali and Others at Kids' Best Friend Dinner

Highlighting the important work of local community leaders and educators, The Education Center of Developmental Resources will honor several exceptional individuals who have made a significant difference in the lives of children in Naperville and throughout the region. Awards will be presented at the center's annual Kids' Best Friend Benefit and Awards Dinner on Friday, November 19, in the Lisle/Naperville Hilton Grand Ballroom.

The Education Center is a nationally recognized children's organization that for more than 30 years has been helping kids succeed in school and in life. With a 97 percent success rate of graduating students who are diagnosed as learning disabled and underachievers, The Education Center offers Naperville families a place of hope and help. The annual Kids' Best Friend benefit directly supports the many programs of The Education Center.

This year's award winners are:

• Norm and Liz Zienty – Kids' Best Friend Award

• Hossein Jamali – Lawson Products Humanitarian Award

• Ray McGury – Community Partner Award

• Frank Hnilo - Business Partner Award

• Kathleen “Kitty” Murphy - Making a Difference Award

“Once again we are pleased to honor members of our community who have reached out to our youth. Through their volunteer efforts and daily work, they have supported kids and teachers in our schools, raised funds for children's cancer research, provided youth with educational and recreational opportunities, and worked with organizations that support local families,” said Dr. Michael Litow, founder and executive director of The Education Center.

Kids' Best Friend Award

Receiving the 2010 Kids' Best Friend Award are Norm and Liz Zienty. They are dedicated and generous supporters of local schools and numerous community causes. They have also mentored and provided employment opportunities for several kids served by The Education Center.

The Zientys established the first auto dealer Business Partnership with School District 203 and for many years have supported the Naperville Education Foundation, the Kids Booster fund, and Home and School. For the past 10 years, their car dealership, Fair Oaks Ford, has sponsored a unique driver education program in cooperation with Naperville North, Naperville Central, and Lisle high schools. Three times each year, up to 150 students come to the dealership for hands-on, practical instruction about purchasing and owning a vehicle, auto insurance, maintenance, and safety. One highlight of each outing is the kids' interaction with police officers. After learning about vehicle safety, students are given the opportunity to wear special goggles that replicate the effects of being intoxicated. The young drivers put on the goggles and then try to walk a straight line – a real “eye-opening” experience!

According to Naperville Police Chief David Dial, “Year after year, Norm stepped up to the plate with the driver education program and United Way campaigns. His important contributions to the community have helped to make Naperville what it is today.”

Norm Zienty has been active in the community since 1983 when he first joined the Rotary Club of Naperville. He has also been very involved with the YMCA and serves on the board of directors of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Liz Zienty has also taken a leadership role in the community, sharing her talents with teens through the Rotary Club of Naperville. For almost three years, Liz served as the club's director of vocational services. She energetically took on the role of Rotary liaison for Interact, Rotary International's service club for young people ages 14 to 18. The Interact Club, made up of about 100 students, is dedicated to doing service within the community. Under Liz's guidance, the Interact Club earned two Presidential Citations from Rotary International and a second-place district award.

Liz is also deeply involved with Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, better known as RYLA. Each year, she spends a leadership weekend with 85 youth in Wisconsin, as students engage in various team-building activities and real-life budgeting scenarios.

According to Bill Garlough, former president of the Naperville Rotary Club, “Liz generously gives of her personal time to help young adults, providing good guidance to them. Kids gravitate to her, trust her, and rally around her. She deeply cares about the kids, and her warmth and caring earned her the nickname ‘Rotary Mom.'”

Liz explained, “Both Norm and I are inspired by the community we live in. We are so happy to be part of Rotary and Naperville – the town that takes care of everyone.”

Lawson Products Humanitarian Award

Each year, this award is presented by the Lawson Products Company in honor of its founder and well-known Chicago philanthropist, Sid L. Port. Mr. Port's legacy of giving includes generous support that helped establish The Education Center. This year, Lawson is especially proud to honor a businessman with a heart for helping others, Hossein Jamali.

A successful restaurateur who is known for his quiet generosity, Jamali has never forgotten his humble roots and a life-changing lesson he learned as a six-year-old child. One day his father brought home a banana, a rare treat in his one-room home, and carefully sliced it into small pieces to share with Hossein and his six siblings. As he tasted the fruit, the youngster realized that his father could have chosen to eat the banana himself, and no one would have known. But he chose to share it – and that made a big impression on the little boy. His life has been dedicated to sharing his blessings with others.

In 1972, when he first arrived in the United States as a young man, Hossein Jamali had only $20 in his pocket. Restaurant work was readily available and allowed him to support himself and finance his education in structural engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The work experiences also gave him a love for culinary arts and led to an entrepreneurial career that would impact the lives of others. Today he owns Meson Sabika in Naperville and Tapas Valencia in Chicago.

Pat Merryweather-Arges, the winner of last year's Humanitarian Award, wrote, “Hossein is one of the most generous, kind and giving individuals that one could ever meet. He is one of those talented and giving leaders who has continued to share his wealth with those in need.”

In recent years, Meson Sabika has hosted fund-raisers to help victims of the 2004 tsunami, earthquakes in Haiti, Kashmir, and Turkey, Hurricane Katrina, floods in Pakistan, and several other natural disasters. Meson Sabika is also the setting for numerous “Taste of Sangria” events each year, with 100 percent of the funds raised given to charities. Guests pay a modest admission fee and enjoy tapas and sangria free throughout the event. Last year, 270 people attended a benefit to support Upendo Village, an HIV/AIDS Center in Kenya.

Locally, Meson Sabika frequently donates to and participates in fund-raisers for many charitable causes.

Another memorable and generous event takes place at Meson Sabika on Thanksgiving every year. Meson Sabika opens its doors to whomever wants to dine, completely free of charge. Volunteers from the community participate as restaurant staff for this event. The meal is offered to anyone in need, and Jamali is quick to explain that needs are not always financial. Each year this event has increased in popularity, and in 2009, Meson Sabika welcomed over 1,500 guests.

While reluctant to be recognized publicly for his philanthropy, Hossein Jamali has received numerous awards for his community involvement and achievements. The West Suburban Philanthropic Network awarded him its Philanthropy Leadership Award in 2006, and the Naperville Jaycees honored him with the Distinguished Service Award-Business earlier this year. The Rotary Club of Naperville presented Jamali with The Four Avenues Service Award in June of 2010. Jamali has also been inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Community Partner Award

Long before he became executive director of the Naperville Park District, Ray McGury was well-known throughout the community for his 20-year career as a leading law enforcement professional at the Naperville Police Department, retiring at the rank of captain in 2005. He mentored several youth from The Education Center while working at the police department and has hired several of the center's students at the Naperville Park District.

Throughout his law-enforcement career, McGury earned numerous awards, including the Medal of Honor for Bravery from the International Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association, presented by former U.S. Drug Czar William Bennet. He was a three-time recipient of the Illinois Metropolitan Enforcement Group Award for outstanding narcotic investigations and received the Illinois State Crime Commission Medal of Honor. As police caption at the City of Naperville, Ray was instrumental in drafting Illinois House Bill 1582, strengthening law enforcement's ability to obtain personal identification on suspected pedophiles using Illinois libraries as a safe haven.

In 2005, CAPS, Citizens Appreciate Public Safety, honored McGury with the Pradel Award. He also received a Naperville Jaycees Distinguished Service Award.

McGury's volunteer work in the community is remarkable. He personally brought the very successful St. Baldrick's Cure for Pediatric Cancer charity event to Naperville in 2005. More than 100 people shaved their heads and raised money for childhood cancer research that first year. Over 500 people attended the event, and $67,000 was raised. The event is now an annual fund-raiser locally.

McGury currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Naperville Developmental Partnership, the Heritage YMCA, and the Naperville Area Humane Society. He also served on the Naperville United Way Board of Directors, was the torch run coordinator for the Illinois Special Olympics, was a volunteer religious education teacher, volunteered for the children's reading program at Beebe School, and served as a volunteer coach for numerous local organizations including YMCA basketball, St. Raphael Football, Bolingbrook Park District basketball, and numerous Naperville Park District teams that he coached for all three of his sons. It was as coach of a Naperville Park District soccer player that McGury became inspired to help children with cancer.

Business Partner Award

Frank Hnilo and his good friend, Carmen DiGiovine, founded an accounting firm in Naperville in 1974, based on the core values of “Faith and Family, Excellent Client Service, Respect for Each Other.” The firm, DiGiovine, Hnilo, Jordan and Johnson, can attribute much of its success to the company's core values and to its philosophy of giving back to the community. The accounting firm has generously supported numerous organizations that benefit children and families.

In addition to its financial support, the company has long encouraged every member of its team to become actively involved in community organizations. Leading by example, Frank Hnilo served on the Naperville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors in the 1970s; as an officer of the Rotary Club of Naperville from 1976 through 1987, including president in 1983/1984; as treasurer of the Rotary Club's Oktoberfest for all but two of its 15 years; as treasurer of Naperville Rotary Charities from 1995 until the present, and as treasurer of the Naperville Education Foundation for six years. Hnilo also mentored several students from The Education Center who were interested in accounting, and he coached Naperville Little League, Pony League, and Colt League baseball from 1995 through 2007.

Hnilo has great respect for the work that The Education Center accomplishes with kids. He explains, “Dr, Litow promotes himself as a life coach. He coaches the kids how they can and need to take ownership of their difficulty. He coaches them how they can make adjustments in their lives so they can either overcome or they can learn to deal with their situations. He is a straight shooter. He doesn't mix his words. His own background, vast experience, personal accomplishments, and approach give him the ability and credentials to make meaningful connections with these kids. What Dr. Litow has done in his lifetime in coaching thousands of kids through difficult times and/or disabilities is nothing short of phenomenal.”

Making a Difference Award

Kathleen “Kitty” Murphy, assistant superintendent for student services and special education in Naperville School District 203, has been in education since 1978. She started as a learning disability/behavior disorders teacher in Loves Park, Illinois, and began her work in Naperville at Lincoln Junior High a year later as an LD resource teacher. In 1984, she transferred to Beebe school to become the learning disabilities teacher and also served there as curriculum resource specialist. She later served as assistant principal at Beebe and Mill Street schools from 1989-1994. Murphy was principal of Maplebrook Elementary School for eight years, and has held her current position since 2002.

For many years, Murphy has collaborated with Dr. Litow on issues related to children in School District 203, including working together for the district's Parent University.

Ticket Information:

Members of the community are invited to join The Education Center in honoring award winners. Tickets to the Kids' Best Friend Award Dinner are $125 per person and include a lavish cocktail reception, dinner and dancing. The reception begins at 5:30 p.m.

For more information about The Education Center or to purchase tickets, please contact the center at 630-420-7807 or visit www.TheEducationCenter.org. The Education Center is located at 113 East Van Buren in Naperville.