CIACO to honor Ken Kolnicki with Humanitarian Award

Ken Kolnicki grew up in an Italian-Polish family on Taylor Street in the 1950s where he watched his mother, Antoinette, and father, John, always reach out to help others in need.  His parents didn’t have to check their calendars, didn’t procrastinate about it, when a neighbor needed help, the Kolnickis were there.  This attitude and upbringing strongly influenced young Ken Kolnicki which he has carried on throughout his life as he continued helping others. He and his wife Pam have raised their children the same way. This Saturday, May 10, the Chicagoland Italian-American Charitable Organization (CIACO) will honor Mr. Kolnicki with the Humanitarian Award as part of CIACO Honor and Hope Gala at Alta Villa Banquets (430 Addison Road, Addison, IL) beginning at 6 p.m.

“I learned about helping others from my parents,” said Kolnicki, the youngest of two children whose mother was first generation Italian and father first generation Polish. “When I was growing up, my parents didn’t have anything, but they would always help someone in the neighborhood who needed help, whether it was cooking or just doing something to help out.  I was only six years old when we moved, but I remember those days on Taylor Street very well.”

The Kolnicki family moved to the Austin neighborhood near Central and Madison.  A new neighborhood didn’t change the family’s charitable attitude. It was just a different group of neighbors to help out whenever they needed it.

“My mother being Italian, she was the loud one,” said Kolnicki, who graduated from Austin High School and went on to study accounting at the University of Illinois-Chicago. “So she is the one who was giving us the orders and telling us to help people, which we gladly did.”

John Kolnick is now 93 years old and Antoinette 91, living in the suburbs.

After becoming a member of CIACO in the late 1980s, Kolnicki recalls one very special year when the organization planned a direct outreach charitable program during Christmas time.

“About 20 years ago, we were giving out Christmas baskets of food to families in need,” said Kolnicki.  “We thought it would be nice to bring the baskets directly to the house. A local church gave us the names of people who were really in need. When I arrived at the house in Maywood and gave them the food basket, it was unbelievable how grateful they were. That’s one thing that always stayed with me. There are some people who really need help. Usually, you just bring the baskets to a church and they distribute them. But when I actually delivered it to the people, the little kids were jumping up and down. They were so happy. Everyone in CIACO had similar stories.”

Kolnicki is a father of six children, and along with his wife Pam, have instilled that same charitable service attitude into their children.

“My daughter Kailey didn’t understand why an award would be given to help others,” said Kolnicki, who later understood that response. “It made me realize that all of the charity work we do as a family has become second-nature to our kids. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for them.”

For example, the Kolnicki children helped Ken and Pam organize a cancer fundraiser, raising $16,000 for research. Kailey, a high school sophomore, belongs to Camp Courageous and each summer spends a week helping disabled children. Younger  daughter, Karson, 15, is a coach for the Special Olympics. The youngest, Joey, 13, came up with the idea of sending blankets to the Sandy Hook families who lost their children in the tragedy. As a family, they have made blankets for chemotherapy patients and lunches to pass out to the homeless on the streets of Chicago. This is a family that has charitable giving at the top of their day-planner.

“I don’t see that attitude very often among many of the young kids today,” said Kolnicki. “I thought if enough young people attended this event, they could hear all the stories about what people are doing to help others and perhaps that would make a positive impression on them.  We all should be helping people in need.”

Kolnicki’s service-minded mentality carries over into his business life as well. He founded a full-service accounting firm, Kolnicki, Peterson, Wirth more than 35 years ago and his clients are more than clients. They are people who know they can depend on Ken Kolnicki.

“Ken’s honest and you know he’s not just going through the motions,” said one of his clients. “We always know he is working in our best interests, which is why I think he has done so well in business. He’s always trying to help others.”

The Humanitarian Award presentation is only one part of CIACO’s Honor and Hope Gala which is their annual tribute to Our Wounded Heroes, as well as Future Leaders, through scholarships presented to 17 students. CIACO has donated more than $500,000 in scholarship money to local students as well as donations to families of Veterans of the Iraq War.

For more information about tickets to the CIACO fundraising event, contact Chairperson Tom Reboletti at (630) 400-9908.  For those who can’t attend, CIACO is a 501-3C charitable organization and donations can be sent to CIACO, P.O. Box 27, Bloomingdale, Ill 60108.  The event will begin at 6 p.m. with cocktails followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m.