Libertyville’s Ansel Brainerd Cook Chapter awards Community Service Awards

Libertyville, IL – The Ansel Brainerd Cook Chapter, NSDAR awarded Natalie Hilberg and Nick Konz the DAR Community Service Award at our annual awards dinner held at Austin’s.

The DAR Community Service Award is awarded to an individual or organization that contributes to the community in an outstanding manner. This can be through voluntary heroic, civic, or benevolent service, or by organizing or participating in community activities.

Ansel Brainerd Cook’s first recipient, Natalie Hilberg has been a member of the Ansel Brained Cook Chapter since August 5, 2020, and currently serves as our National Defense Director.

When Hilberg retired 8 years ago, she was looking for a volunteer activity that would be meaningful. At a Lenten program she heard about Love INC, and started volunteering twice a week for a total of 6 hours weekly. In 2025 Natalie volunteered 312 hours at Love INC.

Love INC was founded in 1977 to encourage churches to become more engaged with the underprivileged and to inspire a greater number of Christians to put their faith in action.

Love INC has a warehouse in Waukegan where donations of housewares, furniture and linens are received. These items are cleaned up, repaired and organized to be given to families in need. This is where Hilberg volunteers her time. She works in housewares where she organizes the donations, cleans them up (if needed), polishes and make repairs. Hilberg puts together “starter kits” which includes silverware, dishes, cookware and appliances and ten distributed to the families in need. She enjoys knowing that what she does helps to make life a bit easier for a family who is struggling.

Our second recipient of the Community Service Award is Nicholas (Nick) Konz. Konz is an Army veteran having served three years from 1963-1966. He is one of the most active volunteers for veterans in Lake County, Illinois. What gives him a passion for helping veterans is inequalities he witnessed while serving and thinks every veteran should receive services if it is needed.

Konz is currently the president of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Lake County. Lake County has 45,000 veterans and 31 veteran organizations. Members of each of these organizations have one delegate to the commission that meets quarterly. It is funded by the county for emergency assistance for veterans.

Konz has been a member of the Mundelein American Legion Post 867 for 62 years. He has served as Chaplain and has held other offices. He currently is the service officer. In this capacity, he offers insight to the post based on his many years of experience. He also organizes the Honor Guard and goes to cemeteries or wakes if the family requests it. Konz, with his wife, Nancy, are poppy chairmen. They put the poppies together for Memorial Day and Konz finds people to help distribute them.

Konz is the organizer of the veterans at Saddlebrook Farms where he lives. When he moved there in 2011, he realized there was no organization for the veterans, so he started one and still chairs their monthly meetings. Over the years, Konz has arranged for interesting guest speakers and has conducted American Flag retirement services.

Konz has been a member of the Stakeholder Advisory Council at the Veterans Administration for a very long time.

One of the programs near and dear to Konz’s heart is ‘No Veteran Dies Alone’. When a veteran is terminally ill, Nick visits them as long as they need him. The protocol for this is sitting next to their bed, holding the person’s hand, and talking to them. Sometimes it involves family members talking to him also. This is tough duty and not everyone can be with those in their last moments, but Konz is there for them. Why does Konz do it? He responds that “he does it because it needs doing.”

At the conclusion of the presentation of the awards, Konz was also presented with a beautiful patriotic Quilt of Valor. This presentation was made by Sharon Wick and Beverly Chatfield from the Quilt of Valor Sewing Circle in Lake Villa.

The DAR is a non-profit, non-political, volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education. Membership is open to any woman 18 years or older who can prove lineal, bloodline descent from an ancestor who served the cause of American independence.

Members of the Ansel Brainerd Cook Chapter have been proudly serving the Libertyville-Mundelein-Vernon Hills area of Lake County, Illinois since 1977. We are 180+ members strong and growing. Our members range in age from 18 to 100. Our roster includes women with careers, students, homemakers, young moms and retirees. We are mothers, grandmothers, and most importantly Daughters. We honor the service our patriot ancestors gave for American Independence by providing service to our communities.

For more information, please contact Ansel Brainerd Cook chapter at: https://www.ildar.org/chapters/anselbrainerdcook or email us at: ABC4DAR@gmail.com

For more information about Love INC, please visit their website:

https://loveinclakecounty.org/

For more information about the Veterans Assistance Commission, please visit their website:

https://www.vaclc.org/

For more information about the Quilts of Valor, please visit their website:

https://www.qovf.org/