Donor Spotlight

In the late 1980s Carleton Hotel  proprietor Ron Fox and his wife Cathy met Executive Director, Mary Anne Brown through mutual friends who had adopted children from Hephzibah. 

"We got to know Mary Anne and learned what an outstanding program she had going at the Group Homes,” says Fox.  “There were so many sad stories that touched Cathy and I.   I couldn’t believe what these little kids had endured before coming to Hephzibah."  Fox noticed that children arrived at the House with very little – in many cases, only the clothes they were wearing.

"My wife and I wanted to do something for the children so we arranged to buy each one a new pair of shoes when they came to stay at Hephzibah.” A special account was created at the Competitive Foot shoe store. 

"It's right down the block," Fox says. "After the child gets settled in, that's where [the staff] takes him. He gets to pick out his own shoes."

The total number of shoes Ron Fox has given to the children who have come to Hephzibah is enormous - thousands of pairs.

A year after Fox began the shoe program, he was inspired to host a holiday party at the Carleton Hotel, his establishment in Oak Park, because "there wasn't much going on with the Group Home kids at Christmas." The event which continues to this day has become a much loved Hephzibah tradition.

"Our restaurant makes up a buffet dinner and the children get to pick from a whole array of food and desserts,” he notes. “Before the party, we get a list from the Hephzibah staff of what each child would like. Then my wife and I go shopping,"

Fox not only plays Santa from a financial perspective but he derives an enormous amount of satisfaction by giving the children their presents dressed as the jolly man from the North Pole! A professional photographer is on hand to commemorate the celebration. For many of the Hephzibah children, this is the only "dressy" holiday picture they possess.

Ron Fox’s kindness and generosity have had a profound impact on generations of children who have arrived at Hephzibah scared and traumatized. Welcoming them with a new pair of shoes, one of the first gestures they encounter, is not about getting the latest style or fashion – but about sending a crucial message: “you are safe and you are special.” It is the first step in helping these children get back on their feet.

Typical of his modest outlook, Fox says about his commitment to the children at Hephzibah, “It’s tremendously enjoyable for me.  I’m just an average person.”