Rising Together Building a Healthy Future
41st Annual Smith Nature Symposium Awards Dinner
with Emcees Bill Kurtis and Donna La Pietra
Honoring 2024 Environmental Leadership Award Recipient
DR. MONA HANNA
Pediatrician, professor, and public health hero whose research exposed the Flint Water Crisis
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2024
5:00 PM
THE BIRCHSTONE
200 Barclay Blvd. Lincolnshire, IL 60069
Join our movement for change! The Smith Nature Awards Dinner is Brushwood Center’s largest fundraising event of the year, and all funds raised from the evening directly benefit our programs for youth, families, and Veterans across our community.
Host Committee
ROSALYN DEIGAN, Co – Chair
Rosalyn Deigan has been a resident of Lake County, IL for 25 years and works in health care as a non-clinician. Born and raised on the north side of Chicago, she developed her love for nature and conservation from her late mother, a farm-girl turned city-dweller. An amateur nature photographer and life-long-learner, Rosalyn and her husband Geoff have supported the work of Brushwood Center for over 10 years and are dedicated to sharing the message that by each of us caring for the health of our natural spaces – we are caring for the health of our community.
CELESTE FLORES, Co – Chair
Celeste Flores is a child of Mexican immigrant parents and a first-generation college student. As the Director of Community Building at Mano a Mano Family Resource Center, she leads civic engagement, community organizing, and policy advocacy. Celeste also develops and leads the Liderazgo Initiative, cultivating cohorts of emerging leaders in Lake County, Illinois. Celeste has worked in the national environmental justice movement for the past decade. Her work with frontline community members has drawn national attention to the environmental injustices associated with corporate polluters. She was Senator Duckworth’s guest for the 2020 State of the Union in recognition of her work around the country championing environmental justice and frontline communities to be part of policy decisions. Celeste has received numerous awards, including the 2017 Archdiocese of Chicago Hispanic Ministry Gaudium et Spes Award and was a recipient of the 2020 Energy News Network 40 under 40 award.
Celeste is the elected Vice President of the Warren Newport Library Board, serving since 2022. Celeste was nominated to the 2022 University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs-Edgar Fellows Program. She was also selected to the 2023 Illinois Women Institute for Leadership Training Academy. Celeste serves as the Co-Chair of Clean Power Lake County, Secretary of the Executive Board at Brushwood Center, Co-President of Young Democrats Lake County, a Steering Committee Member of the Lake County Criminal Justice Community Council, and a Board Member of Forefront.
in formation
Natalie Arriola
Bruce Boyd and Beth Wiley Boyd
Adam Carson and Nydia Gonzalez-Carson
Maria Colunga
Winnie and Bob Crawford
Rosalyn and Geoff Deigan
Brandon Ewing
Celeste Flores and Thomas Maillard
Rob and Amy Heinrich
Judith and Anthony Iacuzzi
Jacalyn and Carl Johnson
Nadine Johnson
Jean Meilinger and John Schneider
Suzanne Malec-McKenna and Joseph Ferguson
Lorra Rudman
Ellen Rudnick and Paul Earle
Ruth and Mark Schlossberg
Angelica and William Sturm
Martha Twaddle and Tom Millar
Our Sponsors
Thank you to our Sponsors!
in formation
COLLABORATOR
Adele Simmons
Jean Meilinger and John Schneider
AMBASSADOR
Amy and Rob Heinrich
Ellen Rudnick and Paul Earle
Angelica and William Sturm
FRIEND
BCU
Bruce Boyd and Beth Wiley Boyd
Winnie and Bob Crawford
Rosalyn and Geoff Deigan
The Donnelley Foundation
Old National Bank
Judith and Anthony Iacuzzi
Jacalyn and Carl Johnson
Suzanne Malec-McKenna and Joseph Ferguson
Lorra Rudman
Martha Twaddle and Tom Millar
Environmental Youth Leadership Award Sponsors
Rosalyn and Geoff Deigan
Angelica and William Sturm
Sponsorship
Support Brushwood’s work to improve health equity through community, nature, and the arts!
SPECIAL SPONSOR BENEFITS:
- Directly support programs in our community for youth, families, seniors, and Veterans.
- Name recognition opportunities on Brushwood website, social media, and materials.
- VIP Meet and Greet with Dr. Mona at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods.
- Celebrate at the in-person Awards Dinner honoring pediatrician, professor, and public health advocate, Dr. Mona Hanna.
- Join a community of supporters committed to a thriving and equitable world for people and nature.
Dr. Mona Hanna
“The world shouldn’t be comprised of people in boxes. Minding their own business. It should be full of people raising their voices, using their power and presence, standing up for what’s right. Minding one another’s business. That’s the world I live in. And that’s the world I want to live in.” – Dr. Mona Hanna
MPH, FAAP, Pediatrician, Director of Rx Kids, and Associate Dean for Public Health at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
Dr. Mona Hanna (commonly known as Dr. Mona and formerly known as Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha) is the Associate Dean for Public Health and C.S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. She is the founding director of the Pediatric Public Health Initiative, an innovative partnership of MSU and Hurley Children’s Hospital in Flint, Michigan. She is reimaging how society can come together to eliminate infant poverty with a first-in-the-nation program, Rx Kids.
A pediatrician, scientist, activist, and author, Dr. Hanna was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and recognized as one of USA Today’s Women of the Century for her role in uncovering the Flint water crisis and leading recovery efforts. Dr. Hanna is the author of the widely acclaimed and New York Times 100 most notable book, What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City.
Dr. Mona’s first-in-the-nation program, Rx Kids aims to improve health, hope, and opportunity. Science demonstrates the lifelong consequences of early adversity but also the promise of science-based, community-driven solutions. For many families, income plunges, and poverty spikes right before a child is born and remains high throughout the first year. Built on the tremendous success of the expanded Child Tax Credit, which cut child poverty to its lowest level in recorded history, and in line with global evidence, Rx Kids boldly reimagines how we care for each other with universal and unconditional maternal and infant cash prescriptions.
Youth Environmental Leadership Award
2024 Awardees
Emcees
Donna La Pietra and Bill Kurtis will grace the stage as Emcees of the 41st Annual Smith Nature Symposium. Their contributions to news-broadcasting, documentary film production, and conservation have made them longtime legends in Chicagoland.
After starting his career as a journalist, Bill became the news anchor for CBS at Chicago’s WBBM Channel 2, where he met Donna, who would become the channel’s Executive Producer. Bill is also the judge and voice of the popular news radio show, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Donna and Bill are known for their documentary film production company, Kurtis Productions, and for their devotion to supporting local non-profits.
Smith Nature Symposium
On May 6, 1984, more than 350 people gathered for the first Smith Nature Symposium featuring Roger Tory Peterson. Organized under the leadership of Barbi Donnelley, Symposium Co-Chair, this jam-packed convening of nature-lovers became the first of four decades of annual Symposia memorializing the significant civic legacy of Hermon Dunlap and Ellen Thorne Smith, who donated their land and cabin to help form Ryerson Woods.
Hermon, or Dutch, was chair and CEO of Marsh & McLennan, and led The Chicago Community Trust, Newberry Library, and many other Chicago Institutions. Ellen was a philanthropic leader and champion of nature with organizations such as The Field Museum and Chicago Zoological Society.
41st Smith Exhibition
RADICAL HOPE: BUILDING CLIMATE RESILIENCE FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
Saturday, September 14th – Sunday, October 27th
Community connection and resilience are key to navigating an uncertain climate future, but what makes a community resilient? What could a healthy future for all look like, and how do we hold onto radical hope and joy in the face of such uncertainty and trauma? Explore the challenges facing humans and our ecosystems, find new ways to build connections, and learn about those working towards a better future for everyone in this immersive exhibition.
Contact Us
Scholarship opportunities are available for students and those with economic constraints, please contact us. For questions on Sponsorship, tickets, or the Awards Dinner, please contact us.
Mirja Spooner Haffner
Director of Development
mspoonerhaffner@brushwoodcenter.org
224.633.2424 ext. 6
