Publications & Sites 
Extraordinary evening celebrates an extraordinary life
Bob and Melissa Burke of Hinsdale. | Natasha Wasinski~For Sun-Times Media
Event: No Ordinary Evening
Benefiting: Declan Drumm Memorial Fund and
Horizons for Youth
Attending: 700
Raised: $600,000
Article Extras
Updated: June 27, 2012 9:14AM
More than 700 guests dined and danced the night away in Navy Pier’s Grand Ballroom April 28 in remembrance of an extraordinary son, brother, friend and University of Notre Dame student who marched to his own beat.
The inaugural No Ordinary Evening event honored one life — that of Declan Drumm Sullivan — by impacting hundreds of others.
The 20-year-old Long Grove resident and graduate of Carmel High School in Mundelein died in October 2010 while videotaping a Notre Dame football team practice.
Accepting the tragedy as an accident, his parents, Barry Sullivan and Alison Drumm, created a memorial in his name to benefit Horizons for Youth, an organization committed to helping lower-income Chicago students graduate from high school to achieve their full potential.
Throughout the evening family members shared their favorite Declan anecdotes. Siblings Wyn and Mac said Declan’s favorite line from the movie “American Beauty” reflected his passions and values: “I don’t think there is anything worse than being ordinary.”
Daniel Dowling, a teacher at De La Salle Institute in Chicago whose students benefit from Horizons for Youth, said the event was “one of the greatest celebrations of life that I’ve ever seen.”
