During our 40th anniversary celebration at MxD, we awarded our founder, Donna Ducharme (pictured), with the inaugural Donna Ducharme Award for Outstanding Service to the North Branch Community.
After completing her master’s degree in urban planning, Donna founded North Branch Works, seeing an urgent need for public polices that support industrial and manufacturing companies.
These firms create high-quality jobs that do not require advanced degrees and build wealth in Chicago neighborhoods.
North Branch Works plans to give this award annually to the person who in our view has done incredible work in our service area.
And as our Board President, Larry Bennett, pointed out it will mean that subsequent winners will have done about a tenth of what Donna has contributed and it will still be a significant and lasting achievement.
The award presentation capped a short program that also included remarks from longtime friends of NBW such as Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) and BACP Commissioner Kenneth Meyer. We also listened to a recorded message from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
On a more somber note, our Executive Director, Jonathan Snyder, took a moment to note the passing of NBW Board Member, Lynn Werner, who passed in August of 2022.
She was a dynamic leader and entrepreneur and served on our board for more than 25 years; you may remember her as a tenacious wrangler of our silent auction items.
After acknowledging Lynn’s amazing life, we enjoyed beer from Metropolitan Brewing and Revolution Brewing as well as signature cocktails from KOVAL Distillery.
Catering for the event was provided by The Paramount Group, a dynamic woman-owned business that recently opened a new restaurant, Eden, at 2734 W Roscoe Street.
North Branch Works would like to recognize our 40th anniversary sponsors: Bigane Paving Company, Logistics Property Company, Metropolitan Brewing, MxD, Onni Group, WM, Sterling Bay, Ozinga, Bank of America, R2 Companies, Bucksbaum Properties, Seyfarth, and Blue Star Properties.
Thank you to our members, supporters, and friends for an amazing 40th anniversary celebration.
