Progress Awards puts spotlight on local innovation – Kankakee Daily Journal

Charles Duell, the United States commissioner of patents from 1898-1901, said whatever inventions followed the 1800s would make 19th century innovations appear "totally insignificant" compared to what was yet to come.

Duell could not have been more correct.

The world would become an entirely different place. Without the advances of the 20th and early 21st centuries, there would be no computers, air conditioners, televisions, assembly lines, calculators, mobile telephones, Band-Aids, antibiotics, vitamin supplements or chemotherapy.

Don Daake, keynote speaker at the Daily Journal's 2017 Progress Awards, referenced Duell's observations to emphasize how innovation drives the economy and always will drive it. The fourth annual event was held Thursday at the Hilton Garden Inn Riverstone Conference Center, and a record crowd in excess of 250 attended.

Daake, a former longtime business professor at Olivet Nazarene University and a Daily Journal business columnist, said Kankakee County is a hot spot for innovation.

"We live in a stunning world of progress," he said, noting so many people are involved even though they might not even be aware of it.

"The small daily improvements we make in our jobs.Those make more of an impact than those once-in-a-lifetime inventions," he said.

Daake said there is a simple rule everyone should follow.

"Some do," he said, "and will grow and prosper. Some don't and they decline and fade away. You have to have the ability to innovate. The Kankakee region has a long history of cultural innovation."

Daake's point was driven home after he spoke. The Daily Journal bestowed 10 awards on groups and individuals who have brought innovation here (see adjacent list). Here were some of the highlights:

The largest crowd to assemble on stage to accept an award represented the "Innovator in Healthcare'' honorees, Riverside Healthcare Healthy Heroes. The program was established after the untimely death of Kankakee County Sheriff's Deputy Zeb Pfeiffer, who suffered a fatal heart attack that resulted from a previously undiagnosed medical condition. Riverside launched the program to provide health screenings for area public safety providers, and it has helped these men and women identify and address their own health risks. About a dozen representatives of Riverside and the Kankakee County sheriff's police were on stage, including Jenny Pfeiffer, Zeb's widow.

The "Innovator in Social Services'' award went to noted local outdoors enthusiast Mike Norman, who has spearheaded the Pheasants Forever "No Child Left Indoors Program,'' which strives to introduce youth to all the outdoors has to offer. In his acceptance speech, he gave Riverside a plug: "I had a stoke a year ago, and my right side was paralyzed. But I went to Riverside for therapy and now look.'' At that point, Norman waved his right arm briskly in the air.

A touching story also was conveyed when Cinderella Shoes owner Matt Nanos accepted the award for "Small Business of the Year.'' His father, Alan, the previous owner, died a year ago. The younger Nanos openly shed tears in the video that preceded his acceptance speech, and he continued to grapple with his emotions as he spoke, expressing how he wished his father could witness what was occurring.

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Progress Awards puts spotlight on local innovation - Kankakee Daily Journal