Rick Drazner Named Bill Reid Community Service Award Winner

The Buffalo Grove Rotary Club proudly announced the winner of the Bill Reid Community Service Award during Buffalo Grove’s National Night Out on August 6, 2019. The winner is Rick Drazner, a Buffalo Grove Rotarian and community member who was involved in numerous organizations that serve Buffalo Grove. Rick passed away April 5, 2019.

Bill Reid was as a longtime Buffalo Grove Village trustee and a charter member of the Buffalo Grove Rotary Club. He was known for being innovative and finding new ways to improve Buffalo Grove and the quality of life for all residents. He once said, "I believe that life is a three-legged stool: family, service, and goodwill; you must have all three to be balanced."

Rick had all of that, and then some.

For more than a quarter of a century, Rick served the Buffalo Grove community, selflessly. He was a member of the Buffalo Grove Rotary for 25 years and served as the club president in 2004 to 2005. For 20 years, he was a commissioner of the Buffalo Grove Park District where he served as president, vice president and treasurer multiple times. Rick was also a member of the Buffalo Grove Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce for more than 25 years, where he served as president, vice president, treasurer, and director. He was president and vice president of his temple, Congregation Beth Judea, and taught religious study courses during his service.

And if all that wasn’t enough, he also volunteered as a camp counselor for many years, positively affecting the lives of scores of young people. On a more personal note, Rick was always telling jokes (some funny, some a little punny) to make people smile; he was extremely adept at achieving this goal.

As part of the award, the Buffalo Grove Rotary Club will make a $500 contribution to a designated charity chosen by Rick’s family–the Special Leisure Services Foundation–to support the Broadway Buddies program, which was one of Rick’s favorites.

Bill Reid was affectionately known to many as ‘Mr. Buffalo Grove’ and the Rotary Club believes this title fits Rick extremely well. He was a shining example of what it means to put ‘Service Above Self’, which is the Rotary motto, and mantra—and what made Rick the only choice for the award this year. His humor, his kindness, his service and his friendship continues to be so missed by his fellow Buffalo Grove Rotary club members.