About Us
Krusader's founder, Oak Summers, is a publisher, philanthropist, mentor, and compulsive community volunteer. He has held positions in David Moore's unsuccessful political campaign in 2010, staffed HIV/STD prevention campaigns, participated in several mentoring programs in a variety of Elementary Schools in Chicago, IL. and co-chaired a sub-committee for the education referendum committee in Evanston, IL just to name a few...
As he navigatd each experience, one thing was prevalent: In each endeavor there were elements of an "US against THEM" mentality within members of each camp. Teachers & students had a disconnect. Community organizations were distrusted by the communities they served -- and some organizations even felt that they were being benevolent for helping them at all! Local politicians, even on the aldermanic level, were inaccessible to their constituents and some of them (in low-income communities especially) relocated their ward's offices to city hall altogether. Policemen became "law enforcement officers" as they disconnected from the communities they served; long-gone were the days of "Officer Friendly" and "McGruff the Crime Dog". Health clinics bit their nails as schools removed health & sex eduction classes from their schools (for a multitude of reasons, including budget cuts & community outrage), while STD cases skyrocketed until Chicago high schools earned the dubious distinction of that having the highest HIV rate in the nation earned them.
This "Us against Them" mentality replaced the age-old mantra, "It Takes A Village..." and communities suffered and continue to suffer because of it. But all is not lost or forgotten. There are leaders, krusaders if you will, stillamong us. The KRUSADER COMMUNITY AWARDS seeks to recognize them.
The KRUSADER COMMUNITY AWARDS is more than an acknowledgement of great individual deeds; it's an opportunity to pool resources, join communities, and interact with other dedicated people with different approaches to one common goal: The betterment of others.
Instead of celebrating achievements in an individual field, it encompasses the multitudes of different entities that create communities; Teachers, preachers, politicians, health care professionals, etc. and designs a night of entertainment that also encourages cooperation through the common thread of community service.