By MATT CHANDLER
mchandler@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1654

Hamburg resident Suzanne Mc-Kenney felt a calling.

It was 1998 and the mother of two young boys was looking to make her community a better place to live - for her family and others. She co-founded an organization known as the Parent-Child Connection, which became the impetus for an undertaking that would reshape her life.

"That organization was created to try and help parents with resource materials to better parent our children," McKenney says. "As part of that, we had featured a couple of programs that were character-centered."

Those programs led her to explore what else could be done to promote character values in Hamburg.

"In the spring of 2000, we decided maybe we should try to do something a little more extravagant in terms of capturing the community for character excellence," she said. "We decided to put together a big forum to address the possibilities, and we held the Character Building Summit in the fall of 2000."

The event brought together 400 people from Hamburg, and the brainstorming that resulted led to formation of the Character Council of Hamburg. A small group of volunteers, led by McKenney, started the nonprofit with the mission of "trying to encourage character excellence and development."

The volunteers began to spread their message into public schools and businesses throughout Hamburg, and soon residents became familiar with the council's colorful signs promoting a new character value each month.

From integrity to honesty and humility, the council pushed character-based education for not only children in Hamburg but for every resident of the town and village, as well as those outside the area who wanted to be part of the movement.

A decade later, the organization had grown to the point where Mc-Kenney and the board of directors decided to change the name and expand the program. Now known as the Character Council of Western New York, it's expanding its reach and building on the success it found in Hamburg.

"I don't think I really envisioned this type of growth when we began," she said.

"However, I am kind of a visionary in that I like to think that things are possible, even if they are things that people may think are a bit out there in terms of scope or magnitude."

The Character Council has grown significantly, with McKenney leading the way as board president. It has 43 member schools in 13 communities and has become a household name in the Southtowns. It held the first annual Character Chase road race last year, and each year there's a week-long program known as Character Week. It is a series of communitywide events featuring prominent speakers and activities, all highlighting the importance of character.

The council's success has left its mark outside the region, as well.

"We have also been a mentor community for Rome, N.Y., where they have started the Rome Character Initiative," she said. "They have become, I would say, a sister community to us in terms of their efforts to develop character-excellence programs, and they do several things that we do here in Hamburg."

So what it is it that drives McKenney, who serves in a volunteer capacity, to give so much of her time and talents to the community?

"I think it was born out of my love for my children," she said. "I think it is so important for adults to be admirable and authentic role models for children. And when I became a parent, I realized the need for that so much more."

She also credits her strong faith and a supportive family with making her work possible.

"I have a passion for benevolence, and I think it is so important to give back to the community in ways that each of us are able to," she said. "Then, when you are seeing so many examples in the media that are highlighting character non-excellence, there is no question that the need is there."

Though much of the Character Council is aimed toward children through in-school initiatives, McKenney said the program truly needs to reach adults in order to have the greatest chance of success.

"The way that we as adults set forth those examples for children doesn't mean anything if we aren't genuine and don't lead with a positive example," she said. "Parents can talk about these types of things all they want, but if their actions don't line up with their words, it won't mean anything."

It's a message that McKenney, her board of directors and loyal volunteers are excited to bring to more villages and towns throughout Western New York as the program expands.

"I don't want to put any kind of cap on the possibilities," she said. "There is a need in every community, and we want to continue to share the importance of character excellence with as many communities and as many individuals as we can."

For more on the Character Council, go to www.charactercouncilwny.org.