‘We are so, so grateful’ Downers Grove community rallies behind owners of Busy Bee Bakery

Chuck Kalousek, owner of Ingram’s Busy Bee Bakery, was admitted 23 days ago to Northwestern Memorial Hospital because of complications from COVID-19, but it took the community just three days to rally around his family and push his medical care forward.

Illinois hospitals are facing a third wave of COVID-19 patients, and beds, ventilators and other equipment are not immediately available. Thanks to a tremendous amount of community support coming through many avenues, including a GoFundMe campaign, Kalousek has received a bed and ventilator as he awaits a lung transplant.

“From the bottom of our hearts we are so, so grateful and appreciative to the community for rallying around us and supporting us,” Kalousek’s wife, Katie, said Monday night, holding back tears of gratitude. “We’re overwhelmed, and we’re indebted to the community. They literally have helped push [Chuck’s] medical care forward.”

Melisa Mackevicius-Leonard, who started the GoFundMe for the family, has been best friends with Katie Kalousek since the two were in high school and has known Chuck Kalousek equally as long. In just three days, the fundraiser generated more than $86,000 from more than 1,000 donors.

Donations range from $10 to thousands of dollars, and Katie Kalousek said the support has meant everything to the family as they are going through some of the most anguishing days they have ever experienced.

“I said [to Katie] this is not acceptable. We need to do everything we can to get him a bed and save his life,” Mackevicius-Leonard said. “The community rallying around them has been so overwhelming, and I think it’s given Katie hope. It’s certainly opened doors for Chuck to get the care he needs.”

Chuck Kalousek began working at Ingram’s at age 16 and came into ownership in 1999, Mackevicius-Leonard said. Her father was a baker as well, she said.

Mackevicius-Leonard described Chuck Kalousek as a hardworking man who always wants the best life for his family and community.

Katie Kalousek said her husband is the hardest working man she knows, adding he’s done more for her and their two children, Charlie, 17, and Kayla, 13, than most husbands.

“He really didn’t deserve this,” she said.

Katie Kalousek said Chuck Kalousek cares a lot about the community, sometimes at the expense of family time; he has spent many hours making sure people could walk into his bakery for fresh treats. The family has become part of community members’ lives, Mackevicius-Leonard said, as patrons of memorable wedding cakes, birthday cakes and doughnuts donated to Chuck Kalousek’s cause.

“He’s created a magnificent business, and people love him,” Katie Kalousek said. “To see everyone turn to support us is absolutely overwhelming, and I don’t know how to thank everyone enough.”

Mackevicius-Leonard said it’s been heartbreaking to watch her best friend go through all of this, adding that being able to put together the GoFundMe has been a humbling experience. She said she hopes people listen to the needs of others during the pandemic because doing so could help save a life, which she sees the community doing for Chuck Kalousek.

With a long road ahead, Katie Kalousek said she sees hope because of the tremendous support the community has shown.

“The pandemic has separated everybody, and it’s taught us to be apart, but it’s also taught us to band together, and that’s really incredible to me,” Katie Kalousek said.