DuPage Children's Museum Benefit Ball Raises Nearly $233,000

DuPage Children’s Museum (DCM) hosted its annual Champions for Children Benefit Ball on Saturday, April 14 at Hotel Arista at CityGate Centre in Naperville. Presented under the sparkling stars of a dramatic Venetian night, the black tie optional benefit was a glamorous night of live entertainment, unique auction items and special honorees, all to support educating young children. The evening was led by Emcee Judy Hsu, co-anchor of ABC 7 News This Morning. 

In addition to raising funds for the organization, the event was an opportunity to honor those who’ve made a large impact in early learning through the Museum. Dorothy Carpenter, who passed away last April and co-founded DCM with Louise Beem, was honored at the Benefit Ball with a special video that celebrated her vision for the Museum and early learning.  Sue Broad, the Museum’s President and CEO, was presented with a custom designed Borris Powell handbag in honor of her 20 years of service to the organization.

The event began with cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and the silent auction. Afterwards, the attendees enjoyed dinner and the live auction. Once the auction was complete, last year’s Honorary Chairpersons Tom and Brenda Harter introduced Amy Louis, 2012 Benefit Ball Honorary Chairperson. She was recognized for her many years of support, philanthropic contributions and volunteer efforts on behalf of DuPage Children's Museum and throughout the community.

“Amy is the champion of champions for the Museum,” said Brenda Harter. “The passion and commitment she puts forth is incredible. She is a large part of the reason the Museum is where it is at today.”

In her remarks, Amy reflected on a question that Dorothy Carpenter once posed to her regarding the difference between educating and learning in young children.

“She was really concerned with children having an open-ended framework to learn, experiment and explore things for themselves – I think this idea is still heavily relevant today and we must encourage it,” said Louis.

All proceeds from this event serve as an investment in early learning by supporting DuPage Children's Museum programs. They also help to ensure that the Museum continues to have a positive impact on children’s lives by providing open-ended learning experiences in math, science and the arts. The Museum achieves these goals through providing educational programs for 40,000 school children and welcoming more than 300,000 visitors per year.

DuPage Children's Museum would like to thank all of the Benefit Ball’s sponsors, which include Lead sponsor Macy’s; Advocate level sponsor, The Harter Family; Sustainer level sponsor, Coghill Capital Management; Founder level sponsors, BMO Harris Bank, Bulley & Andrews, Calamos Investments, Ice Miller, the Kirch Family, Navistar, Tellabs and Yellowbook360; Patron level sponsor, Sara Lee Corporation; Entertainment sponsors, Ron and Nancy Nyberg; Media sponsor, Naperville Magazine; Photography sponsor, Randall Studio; Dinner wine sponsor, Southern Wine & Spirits.

Thank you to the Ronald L. McDaniel Foundation for matching $25,000 of the event’s proceeds dollar for dollar.

Save the date for next year’s Benefit Ball on April 13, 2013 at the Chicago Marriott Naperville.