To kick off McLean Day, the McLean Citizens Foundation held their annual gala celebration Friday night to celebrate their 25 years of service to the community.
"Everything we do is for McLean," said Jim Hunt, president of the McLean Citizens Foundation. The gala is always held the night before McLean Day, he said, to keep the celebratory spirit as long as possible.
The McLean Citizens Foundation is a charitable organization that gives grants and endowments to various groups and projects within McLean, he said.
"We give money for objects like the bandstand in McLean Central Park. We purchased some patio furniture for the Alzheimer's Center," Hunt said. "The people here tonight, these people are McLean, and we all have the same goal. We're trying to make McLean a better place to live."
Friday night, the Foundation also received some recognition from one of the organizations it benefited: Clyde Clark, chief of the McLean Volunteer Fire Department, presented Hunt with a plaque on behalf of the Fire Department for the Foundation's donation of $50,000 toward the purchase of a new heavy-duty fire engine.
"This is a token of appreciation for a challenge grant they gave us," Clark said. "They agreed to give us the money if we could match it within a certain amount of time. This is the third time in 25 years we've received grants from the Foundation," he said.
One organization that has often received contributions from the Foundation is Clemyjontri Park, which will be a park for children with and without special needs.
"We're here to support the McLean Citizens Foundation because they've done so much to support us," said Julie Clemente, who, along with her husband Dan, chairs the board of directors for the park.
ONE OF FOUR ACTIVITY quarters of the park has been sponsored by the Foundation, she said, although she was not sure what type of attraction will be installed in that area.
Construction work has begun at Clemyjontri Park, she said. "The road is being built, bulldozers are moving land — it's very exciting."
Only one part of the park is currently planned and ready to be built, Clemente said. "We're still doing some fundraising for the park because the second and third phases of it aren't funded at all yet," she said.
The McLean Citizens Foundation is the "charitable arm" of the McLean Citizens Association, said president Susan Turner. "We're very proud of them."
Several MCA members were scattered around the home of Debbie and Tim Howard, who played host and hostess to the event for the second year.
As a former member, Debbie Howard wanted to continue working in the community after her work with the MCA was completed.
"What we're hoping to do with the foundation is keep the money in the community," she said. "We want to grow and expand the foundation so we can expand what we do in the community and with our endowments. The more people know about the Foundation, the more they can help us and the more we can do."
"This is the first year we've done a silent auction," said Foundation member Trish Butler. "We want to keep escalating the event, making it bigger and better ever year."
All of the items, which ranged from a roll of uncirculated nickels and a sheet of uncut one-dollar bills to a week at a condo in Mexico to a guided tour of the U.S. Senate, came from local individuals, she said.
"We're hoping the addition of the silent auction will have helped to draw more people to the event," she said. All proceeds from the auction went to the foundation.