Pete Korte First Recipient of the Ondessonk Builders and Founders Legacy Award
Long-time Camp supporter Cyril “Pete” Korte was honored as the first recipient of the Ondessonk Builders and Founders Legacy Award at the 2015 Camp Ondessonk Gala and Benefit Auction in Fairview Heights, Illinois on March 7th, 2015. After accepting his award, Pete thanked his wife Jane and his entire family for their support over the years, saying, “I couldn’t do it without them.” Six of his children and their spouses attended the presentation, and the Korte family received a standing ovation for their contributions. Pete’s support spans decades, and his passion and greatest gift has been the gift of camp.
In 1996, Pete hosted the first annual Camp Ondessonk Golf Benefit, which raises funds to support camp and most especially the Scholarship Fund. Hundreds of Pete’s colleagues, family and friends have participated as golfers, sponsors, and volunteers, urged by his exclamation “It’s all for the kids!”
This year is the 20th anniversary of the golf benefit, and as of this year, Pete Korte and his team will have raised over $600,000 to benefit the children of Camp Ondessonk.
In addition, as the owner of Korte & Luitjohan Contractors Inc., in Highland Illinois, he has been instrumental in helping camp with its many building projects, from volunteering his employee’s time and expertise to providing his company’s equipment to help camp complete projects on time and significantly under budget. Pete and his team were a big part of building camp’s beach shower house, the installation of waterlines down camp’s main road, the construction of the old dining hall pavilion, the high ropes challenge course and climbing wall, and many, many more Camp projects.
Pete is a devout, spiritual man who believes that the values that Camp Ondessonk teaches are the values that our world needs today. His generosity and his dedication inspires us all, and his legacy will live on in the campers’ lives that he has positively influenced for many generations to come.
Heepwah, Pete!