It’s a long way and a lifetime apart from rural Mississippi to North Chicago, but for Daisy Brooks, a seed was planted as she watched her mother making a place at the table for whoever happened by. It flowered into the centers of care that Brooks has established for children and troubled teenagers.
Her husband, Wadell Brooks Sr., also traveled the route from Mississippi, where he learned many things from his sharecropper grandfather, including the fact that there was only one set of books and that was the landowner’s.
“I resolved right then to learn something about business,” he said. Later, graduating from East St. Louis High School, the only African-American in his class, he received a scholarship to Illinois State University at Normal, where he received a degree in business education. That background not only enabled him to provide for his own family and support his wife’s early endeavors but encouraged him to become what he describes as a “community activist.” He said, “Everything is not fair in life, but I can help by giving back to the community.”
The couple, who met in Chicago and moved to North Chicago in 1959, have worked separately, yet always in concert, to help many people, and in February they were named “the most influential African-Americans of Lake County” by The People’s Choice, a new publication focusing on the black community.
Daisy, 59, a licensed practical nurse and medical technician, worked at Victory Memorial Hospital in Waukegan when their three children were young (Yolanda is now 38; Wadell Jr., 37; and CasSandra, 32). Experiencing firsthand the lack of adequate day care for working mothers, in 1978 Daisy opened her first center, Tots and Toddlers, for children 3 and older. A year later, because demand was so great, she added an infant center, Daisy’s Nursery.
The Brookses, who had purchased several lots when they bought their home in a residential neighborhood, built the day-care center next to their house. Getting zoning approval, meeting state requirements and Daisy’s role as general contractor all were an education in patience for the couple. “There was a dire need for day care,” Wadell said, “but instead of being given support, we were often discouraged.”
Within three months of opening, the center was filled to capacity with 100 children and a year later expanded to include 50 more. Although operating as a business for profit, Daisy said, the center’s rates were kept low to accommodate working people.
Rev. Harriet Cross, pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church in Aurora, was one of the first children put in their care. She was school age when her mother moved to North Chicago, knowing no one in the community. Cross was cared for before and after school at Tots and Toddlers. “Mrs. Brooks was always around, and I still remember the support and love I got there,” she said. Later, as pastor of Emmanuel Methodist Church in North Chicago (now closed), she got to know Wadell. “I look up to him because he is genuinely concerned about the people of North Chicago,” she said.
Wadell, 64, who describes himself as “chief bottle washer and business manager” of the day-care center, continued to work in civil service at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, from which he retired in 1990 as deputy equal employment opportunity officer.
Because of her reputation in the community as a caregiver, in the late 1980s Daisy began getting calls from young girls who needed someone to talk to. Often they were on the streets or in trouble with the police.
Prompted again by a societal need, in 1989 she began her first program for troubled teenage girls, Daisy’s Resource and Development Center, a not-for-profit organization governed by a board of directors. The initial effort has grown into a three-pronged residential program that serves abused or neglected 12- to 18-year-olds who are not pregnant, pregnant and parenting teens, and an independent-living program for 18- to 21-year-olds. There are 53 girls in the three programs.
Daisy is president and CEO of the not-for-profit center as well as Daisy’s Nursery (she dropped the Tots and Toddlers name), which now has about 70 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 5 years. Her daughter CasSandra is administrator, and there is an on-site director for each program.
With the residential programs next to and across the street from her home, Daisy is a hands-on officer. She opens the nursery every morning, cooks the breakfast and feeds the infants. She is frequently seen in all the buildings, and, although there are professional counselors on staff, is often approached by the girls for advice and consolation. She designed and supervised the building of each center and is involved in the rebuilding of one, which was damaged by fire in April. She goes with efficiency and aplomb from cuddling an infant to directing workers where to place a construction crane.
CasSandra, who said she got her love of children working alongside her mother in the day-care center as a child, received master’s degrees in education and educational administration and taught in Waukegan public schools before joining the staff in 1994. Although she admits that she and “the boss” do not always agree at work, in the evening when they talk on the phone, “she is my mom. Both of my parents have been role models. No matter how busy they were, they were always there for us and our interests at school. They were very nurturing, and we never felt neglected because of their community and professional involvement.”
The work in the center can be intense. Girls, the majority placed by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, arrive with an unbelievable amount of emotional baggage, but Daisy will never forget one teen. The girl was brought to her in the middle of the night, screaming and crying, with a pacifier in her mouth. She had been raped by her grandfather, and when she became pregnant was locked in a closet for nine months until she delivered her baby, which was immediately sold to a relative.
“It took days to wean her off the pacifier,” Daisy said. She stayed at the center for two years, got her general equivalency degree and went to live with a relative out of state. Today she is married, has two children and calls Daisy periodically. “If you can save one out of 20 (troubled children in the community), you are doing something,” she said.
The Brookses’ theory is that you cannot just house these troubled young women. In order to effect change, you must provide a full range of services. The center has nurses, counselors and teachers on staff. “Most of these girls have been truant or in more than one school system,” Daisy said. “Many are below grade level and can’t cope with regular school. We work with them one on one to bring them to grade level.” From 1989 until she got school accreditation from the North Central Association in 1993, only one of her girls graduated from North Chicago High School where they had to go for classes. Since 1993, studying in-house, 36 have gotten their diplomas.
The independent-living program provides young women with skills to enable them to be self-sufficient and includes vocational training in nursing, administered by the College of Lake County; cosmetology; office skills; and child care. The reconstructed building will have large classrooms, with the possibility of extending enrollment to non-residents.
Patricia Marlow-Bell, 23, of Chicago was Daisy’s first high school graduate, and when she receives her degree in sociology from Chicago State University in December, she will be the first college graduate. From a dysfunctional family, she lived at the center for 2 1/2 years. Now she is married and the mother of two children. “I consider Mrs. Brooks a second mother,” she said. “She loves people and is constantly helping them. She doesn’t give up on people.” When she started college, she said, the Brookses bought her a car, and Wadell taught her to drive.
The not-for-profit operation has an annual budget of about $1.5 million, overseen by a board of directors, of which Wadell is president. Funds come from the Department of Children and Family Services, grants, fundraisers and donations from Lake County companies.
Olander Warner Jr., a North Chicago Police Department detective and member of the board, said, “In my work, I deal with juveniles, and I can see that the center is doing good. There are pros and cons — people who don’t want such a facility in their neighborhood — but I think without it, there would be more problems. It is an everyday effort to keep it going, and the Brookses have to have their hearts in it.”
Charles Fitzgerald, Shields Township supervisor and another board member, said, “It’s hard to understand how people in the community can be opposed to the center when you look at the devastating things that have happened to these girls and understand that the Brookses are trying to help them gather skills to take care of themselves and doing it in an environment that is loving and caring.” He sees Daisy as the nurturer and Wadell as the “PR guy who is getting the message out to the community and to companies who can help.”
As soft spoken and child-centered as Daisy is, her husband is the antithesis, a large man in stature and voice whose exuberance for life is reflected by his hallmark “Fantastic!” He repeats the word over and over as he interviews guests on his Sunday morning radio show, “NAACP Focus,” aired on WKRS-AM 1220. That show, in its seventh year, and “Community Forum” on U.S. Cable of Lake County, which began in 1995, focus on issues affecting women, African-Americans and other minorities.
A skillful interviewer who listens carefully and is not confrontational, he brings out the best in guests on such topics as politics and religion.
Wadell also is president of the North Chicago Chamber of Commerce, has served as trustee and deacon in Mt. Sinai Baptist Church of North Chicago and is chairman and co-founder of the Lake County Race Unity Task Force. That is an informal group of about 25 that he organized in 1993 with a friend, James Polley of Antioch, to try to eradicate racism in Lake County. They meet monthly to discuss issues, often bringing in outside speakers.
“I have always felt I could accomplish more by talking around the table than by marching in the street,” Wadell said, “although I also think there is a place and time for that. But for myself, people know me and respect me. I can pick up the phone and accomplish more than I could in the street.
“In my job at Great Lakes I was able to initiate upper mobility training programs and apprenticeship training and, therefore, get more women and blacks into better jobs.”
Warner thinks Wadell has made a difference in the community, particularly in the lives of minorities. “Fair housing has been one of his big issues. Through his forums, he has made sure people know what their rights are and where they can go for help,” Warner said.
Three years ago the couple established the Brooks Foundation Scholarship fund, each year awarding $1,000 college scholarships to a graduating senior from North Chicago Community High School, Zion Benton Township High School, Waukegan High School and Wadell’s alma mater, East St. Louis High School. One of the requirements is the desire to pursue a career in human services.
Terry Sims of Waukegan, mother of Brian Sims, a recipient and freshman at Florida A&M University, has known the Brookses since Brian and three of his siblings attended Daisy’s day-care center. “We have been blessed by them,” she said. “First, they made (day care) affordable for us. And now with this scholarship, they have made it easier for Brian to go to college. Their love for the Lord and caring for people speaks volumes. They have touched many families.”
Both Wadell and Daisy have received numerous awards as well as honorary degrees from Faith Grant College of Birmingham, Ala., which honored them after they were nominated anonymously for the college’s annual recognition program. One recognition is permanently visible for all who turn onto Sherman Avenue, where they live and work. In 1994 the City of North Chicago added the honorary name: Dr. Daisy M. Brooks Drive.
“It gives me joy to help people solve their problems,” said Daisy, who characteristically shares credit with her husband. “Wadell has supported me wholeheartedly and allowed me to try new ideas.”
“She is inspired by God, and I don’t want to stand in the way of God’s program,” Wadell said. “We need to do as much as we can as we are passing through (life).”
