Donors, Attendees, and Supporters of Horace Mann Alumni Enrichment Fund:
Below are two media presentations that HMAEF wanted to share with you about the very successful fundraising event of the Evening with David Axelrod.
- First, HMAEF wants to thank David Axelrod for believing in HMAEF and helping HMAEF to hold this event with him being our esteemed guest speaker.
- Second, “Thank You” to all for your help to raise awareness of HMEAF by informing family, friends, business associates and especially former alumni of HME that we even existed to be able to help Horace Mann Academy.
- Third, a huge “Thank You” to Lester and Ben Schlan at Max and Benny’s Restaurant Deli and Bakery for turning their restaurant into a beautiful and intimate venue to share the happiness of visiting with friends, Horace Mann Academy staff, and listening to David Axelrod.
- Fourth, we raised a net of $42,000+ to completely fund the current 2022-2023 School Year Budget, the 2023-2024 School Year Budget, and the special 2023 Summer Budget that Principal Purkett has requested during the event.
The below article was written by North Shore newsman, George Castle
which was published in the Pioneer Press on June 7, 2023
Alumni from 1963 gather in Northbrook to raise funds for South Shore’s Horace Mann Elementary/Academy
When Horace Mann Academy Principal Karon Purkett told of dipping into her school milk supply earlier in the day to help a beleaguered single mother at home, the assembled alumni at Max and Benny’s in Northbrook knew their “Happy Days” upbringing at the school had been paid forward.
The first formal event for the Horace Mann Alumni Enrichment Fund (HMAEF), held Tuesday, June 6, at the Northbrook deli, was geared toward buying much more than milk for the South Side school.
Winter coats, underwear, toothbrushes, and deodorant — daily staples the alums took for granted six decades ago — were sorely needed. A washer and dryer were purchased by HMAEF so students could wear clean clothes to class. Field trips to Brookfield Zoo, roller rinks, professional baseball games costing $420 per bus, and other Chicago attractions need to be funded.
The alumni, who have raised $98,200+ in 2&1/2 years for their alma mater, share lifelong friendships and community closeness.
Their bonds had stayed unbroken despite some moving to the north suburbs and beyond, even to Maui.
“This is incredibly impressive because it’s an elementary school,” said former longtime Highland Park resident Jerry Reinsdorf, the White Sox chairman whose team, along with the Cubs and Northern Trust, is a corporate backer of HMAEF.
“I’ve seen a lot of people raise money for their colleges or their high school, but this is the first time for an elementary school,” said Reinsdorf, who was joined by Crane Kenney, the Cubs’ president of business operations.
They broke bread with keynote speaker David Axelrod, the political analyst, and former White House adviser to President Barack Obama.
The alumni of Horace Mann Elementary/Academy, 8050 S. Chappel Avenue, and other natives of the then-heavily Jewish South Shore and Jeffery Manor neighborhoods, have met previously for reunions at Max and Benny’s, owned by Horace Mann 1963 alumnus Lester Schlan, who has been a 40-year Northbrook resident.
But the Axelrod-headlined event, with a goal of a net $30,000 for the school, was the first fundraiser by eleven Founders of the 1962 and 1963 alums, including Schlan. The event also doubled as a 60th reunion party for the 1963 January and June graduating classes of 1963.
The idea to back Horace Mann’s many needs originated from Bo Blinski, who called from his Maui home in 2020 to fellow alumnus Bruce Levine, baseball analyst for 670 The Score sports radio and the Cubs-owned Marquee Sports Network.
Levine, in turn, organized Horace Mann classmates Jeff Graff, of Bannockburn; Marcia Rustin and Ron Jesselson, of Glenview; former Westinghouse High School teacher Christine Greenfield, of Lake Bluff; Barry Chudnow, of Northbrook; Mike Arkes, of Chicago; Ron Meyer, of Los Angeles, also treasurer for the Horace Mann Alumni Enrichment Fund, and Dick Notkin, now a Washington state resident.
Schlan said Levine was key to bringing the group together. Levine said it was relatively easy to convince Schlan, his 1954 kindergarten classmate, to close Max and Benny’s for one night to accommodate a capacity crowd of 200.
“Lester and I met the first day of kindergarten at Horace Mann,” said Levine.
“This is very special because we were a school where kids had everything they wanted, and they turned out to be doctors and lawyers,” said Schlan.
Things have now changed at Horace Mann Academy, he said, so they wanted to give back.
“It was a bunch of nice guys,” Schlan said. “Some were in different clubs and different classes, but they always got together after school playing football, baseball, and basketball. Everybody just enjoyed each other.”
Greenfield, known as Christine Maffia in her South Side days, said her dad was a public-school coach who ran Rainbow Day Camp in South Shore.
“All my friends here will talk about going to Rainbow Day Camp,” she said. “We had a close bond and had a wonderful childhood. We had a community.”
Greenfield wrapped up her long teaching career with a 13-year run at Shephard Middle School in Deerfield. As a veteran of teaching in Chicago Public Schools, she said she knows what is needed that is not supplied from the school system’s strapped budget.
“I’m aware of the need, as opposed to some of my peers here, for coats, shoes, laundry facilities and toiletries,” she said. “It’s a real issue for schools over long holidays. Principals tell us we need more food. If you’re hungry, you can’t function.”
Purkett, who headed a contingent of five other Mann faculty members at the benefit, was overwhelmed by the alumni support.
“This year was the first time some of our students have ever gone to Brookfield Zoo or a White Sox game,” she said. “They come from single-family homes. Their parents, a lot of times, work two or three jobs and are not able to really put the time into to create life experiences you and I had as kids.”
She said her favorite contribution was the coats, because a lot of students come to school wearing just sweaters because they don’t have coats.
“They say they do, but it has holes and rips in it, and they’re embarrassed to wear it,” she said.
Axelrod endorsed the founders’ efforts, recalling how when a state senator 25 years ago, Obama noticed how youthful aspirations had been beaten down by life by the time students reached eighth grade.
Axelrod stunned the crowd with a suggestion there should be a maximum age on when someone can run for president, and he cast some doubts on President Joe Biden’s ability to be reelected.
“It’s hard to tell the American people I’m going to do this until I’m closer to 90,” he said.
Having had a White House office next to Oval Office, Axelrod said he was proud of the ability to speak truthfully to Obama, even to the point of putting him down.
After hearing of the continuing affinity of childhood friends, Reinsdorf said he was reminded of his own 1940s and 1950s youthful days in Brooklyn. A Dodgers fan, he recalled when a neighborhood friend touted rookie Jackie Robinson as a slick, skilled rookie in 1947.
“When I meet people from Brooklyn, it’s like meeting family,” said Reinsdorf. “Chicago is a lot like that. People who grew up on the South Side or the West Side never left their roots. There’s no question there’s just not enough money that the government can give to the schools.”
Reinsdorf said there’s so much more that needs to be done, especially for inner-city schools.
“This really touched me, this event,” he said. “It was very special, very well done.”
George Castle is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Thank you to all of you. It has been enjoyable watching the growing success of HMAEF.