When Chuck Newman started his architectural business in 1982, it was a one-man shop in Warrenville. About a year later he hired another staff member and the business began to grow. He found his niche was in school design, but it wasn’t until about 15 years later that Newman discovered his true calling—charity.

It all started in 1996, when Newman was invited to take part in a school planning program for communities in South Africa. Newman was on board, but the trip got cancelled at the last minute.

Disappointed but still interested in the idea, Newman caught sight of an article in an architectural trade journal. A group of professionals was going to Honduras, where the schools were in terrible shape, to lend a hand.

Newman and 11 others, architects and school planners, signed up for the excursion. He collected information through interviews with teachers, parents and students in the community. From the information he received, designed a prototype for the ideal Honduras school.

The interviews were essential, Newman said, because the group needed to understand the unique circumstances under which rural Hondurans live.

“In many developing countries, older kids stay home to watch the babies while their parents work,” Newman said. “So they cannot attend school. We had to put a daycare center at the school if we were going to make it successful.”

So that is exactly what they did. They also worked with members of the community, utilizing local labor and materials, and continued to meet with the community twice a year. The result was a 60 percent increase in attendance.

To date, Newman and his group, the Schools for the Children of the World, have built six schools in rural Honduras and one in Nicaragua with another under construction in Belize. Additionally, the group has completed renovations at more than 50 schools in developing countries.

“We take two teams out, twice a year in February and in July,” Newman said. “The summer group is larger, usually about 30 people.” That group, including high school and college students, will renovate four or five different schools in the week-long trip.

“The people there are very poor and their government doesn’t provide much,” said Newman. “There’s been no paint for years, leaky roofs, broken doors and windows.”

When the students arrive, they are often shocked at the conditions, he said.

“The students actually work with the people and see how they live,” he said. “They find out the rest of the world is not like Naperville.”

But it’s more than just paint and hammers. In 2003 the Honduras Ministry of Education asked Schools for the Children of the World to do a study of all the schools in the country. Newman and his cohorts trained members of the military to evaluate the schools and formed a database.

“This was incredibly important, because prior to Hurricane Vick, nothing was computerized,” Newman said. “They thought they had about 12,500 schools, when in reality they had 16,000. They don’t have good population information because everyone doesn’t have an address.”

Those studies led the country to adopt new design standards for all the schools in Honduras, based on plans by Newman’s team. But it’s a long road ahead. The cost of a new classroom in rural Central America and rural Africa is about $20,000, Newman said. Typically, the organization raises about half, and the rest is covered by the community itself with labor and materials.

“People have a tendency to wait for the government to do something. They don’t think they can do such things on their own,” Newman said. “But you might have a very long wait. So we try to show them they can do these things themselves.

Of course, there has to be a balance, he added.

“Parents are building more classrooms with handmade bricks and concrete blocks,” he said. “They make about a dollar a day and walk four to five miles for water. You have people that are really working hard, but there’s no guidance.”

That’s where Schools for Children of the World steps in.

“We show them how to plan a school, design a school, then we raise the dollars for the things they can’t do themselves.”

Newman’s charitable travels will expand in 2008. He will trek to India this month for a water and sanitation project and travel again to Honduras in February. Also in the works is a trip to Afghanistan, for which Newman was invited with the United Nations.

“Ten percent of the children in Afghanistan have lost at least one toe to frostbite,” Newman said. “There’s just no heat. Can you imagine trying to learn like that?”

From all this talk of school designing in developing nations, you might think Newman has ceased its regular business on the home front. Not so. Again, Newman said, it’s about balance.

“We have great people in the office to handle things here when I’m gone. It’s not like I worry that things aren’t happening,” he said. “But my work is my hobby; it’s what I love to do so going to these other countries, that’s my hobby. I can’t think of doing anything else with my free time.”

And Newman’s charitable values appear to have trickled down and around the office. Many of the members of the Newman Architecture staff are involved in charitable design work, both here and overseas.

Principal Dawn Ruth is on the Naperville Rotary committee organizing Newman’s India trip. Principal and project architect Leanne Meyer-Smith designed a church and a clinic in Haiti and is working on the Aurora-based facility for Feed My Starving Children, which packages food to send to needy families around the world.

“Having been here 14 years, I have witnessed the whole journey into philanthropy,” Ruth said. “The reward you feel and the gratitude of people is so fulfilling, that the charity work just becomes a natural part of your day, not something you have to make time for.”

She also said the challenges she faces in developing countries helps her to be more successful here at home.

“It has taught me to always take the time to listen,” Ruth said. “People all want the same things, they have the same needs. But now I look at everything in my design. Every aspect is used by someone, so it’s all important. Even with our clients who aren’t pro-bono, we really take that seriously.”

Smith added that Newman is always getting other members of staff involved, and that a team effort lessens the burden.

“I think it’s become a reflection of our corporate attitude,” she added. “We have to always remember that it’s a service business we are in. We are here to serve other people, and let’s enjoy the opportunity to help people.”