Couple is A Kids' Best Friend

Editor's Note: Today we start a new tradition at Naperville Patch, Wonderful Wednesday. We thought this column would provide an outlet for readers, organizations, businesses and anyone else to recognize people living, working or volunteering in Naperville for the good they do. We have heard from readers who want more positive news from the community and we hope to provide it. To meet this goal we need our readers to send us names and contacts for people in the community worth mentioning. If you know someone the community needs to know about, e-mail Mary Ann Lopez at maryl@patch.com.

This week we begin Wonderful Wednesday with winners of a Kids’ Best Friend Award, Art and Sandy Davis. The award was bestowed on the couple by The Education Center of Developmental Resources, which provided all of the following information.

Art and Sandy Davis are well known throughout the community and state for their generosity and dedication to helping families and children. Former owners of Davis Automotive, they have visited schools and made presentations about the work place. They have made their parking lot available to youth groups for fund-raising car washes, and they have been instrumental in helping to fund life-changing scholarships through the Rotary Club of Naperville and the House of Dreams Charity Raffle.

Art, with Sandy at his side, has been a strong supporter of Rotary since 1976. In 2007, he became District Governor of Rotary District 6450, which includes numerous cities in the Chicago area, and has been involved in numerous local, district and international projects for over 35 years.

Through Art’s leadership, funds have been raised for nonprofits, such as Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, , Hesed House, DuPage PADS, area schools, and Naperville parks (Rotary Hill). He has also led in fund-raising efforts for Rotary’s Polio Plus program, an international effort to eradicate polio.

Most recently, Art has worked to reunite Rotary International with Easter Seals through a $250,000 Rotary pledge to provide programs and materials for Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago’s Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research. In 2007, he helped launch “Rotary and Easter Seals: United Again to Change the World for People with Autism,” a multi-year fund-raising campaign. Art also organized “A Taste for Rotary” and worked with the Chicago White Sox to raise funds Easter Seals’ autism center. Part of the center’s first phase, a research wing, will be named in Rotary’s honor. The $32-million facility will be built in four phases over the next few years.

Art personally co-chaired Rotary’s Oktoberfest from 1994 until 2004. The event raised over $1.5 million for various not-for-profit agencies. Since it was established in 1993, Art has served on the board of Naperville Rotary Charities, the Rotary Club of Naperville’s Foundation that has raised money through its 22 House of Dreams raffles and other fund-raisers. Naperville Rotary Charities has donated almost $2.5 million to Children’s Memorial Hospital, Polio Plus, and other important causes since its inception.

Every step of the way, Sandy Davis has been at the side of her husband, working tirelessly and silently to ensure the success of every project and event.  An equal and gracious partner, Sandy is an unsung hero. According to Art, “Sandy is the wind beneath my wings. I could not do what I do without her help and total support for the past 47 years.”