Friends bring joy to St. Coletta's

This Christmas was extra special for the children and adults with developmental disabilities at St. Coletta’s in Tinley Park.

Several local community organizations have embraced the students, and residents, of St. Coletta’s over this holiday season, by ensuring each person will have a very merry Christmas.

Local churches, including St. George’s Parish and St. Julie Bil-liart Church in Tinley Park, along with Our Lady of the Woods Parish, St. Michael’s Parish, and St. Elizabeth Seton Church in Orland Park, made this year’s gift drive an unqualified success.

At St. Julie’s Parish in Tinley Park, the 8th grade religious education students turned a class project into a season long lesson on the joy of giving. Students were in charge of raising money to purchase gifts for 30 St. Coletta’s residents. Students performed weeks of service hours to raise enough money to purchase all of the gifts on the residents’ wish lists. Following an afternoon shopping spree at the local Kmart, students wrapped presents during a class pizza party.

Parishes and students weren’t the only ones giving this Christmas, St. Coletta’s also received a large donation from the employees at B P, who purchased gifts for 24 residents in the St. Coletta’s group homes.

In addition to providing presents, some people gave the gift of time. American Heritage Sertoma stopped by the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy School in Tinley Park with Santa and his elves to spread Christmas cheer to all the students. Each student had the opportunity to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas and received a gift bag of goodies from Santa’s elves.

Before starting their Christmas break, the Kennedy students performed the annual Christmas pageant, an ongoing tradition. After the play, the students were treated to a choral performance by the Club Filipino. This group has been entertaining our students for many years bringing Christmas cheer to each student.

Meanwhile, for the adults in the St. Coletta’s Workshop program, Christmas came a few days early with the annual holiday party hosted by the South West Special Recreation Association and the St. Coletta’s Parent Association. Workshop clients enjoyed a catered luncheon, along with an afternoon of crafts, music and dancing.

St. Coletta’s has been blessed with its very own Santa, Earl Anderson, President of the Jeff Anderson Children’s Foundation. Anderson has been instrumental in creating a beautiful Christmas for the residents of St. Coletta’s by donating a large amount of presents to help fill up each resident’s stocking to capacity.

The individuals at St. Coletta’s have been very fortunate to receive the outpouring of support and kindness from the community. “It’s a joy to see all of these presents, in light of the current economic downturn. The only families many of our residents know are their other housemates and staff, therefore it’s great to have such a loving and supportive community,” said St. Coletta’s of Illinois’ Foundation Director of Development, Barb Siwinski.

Thanks to all of these organizations, the 180 residents in all of the 27 St. Coletta’s group homes received a present this Christmas.

St. Coletta’s of Illinois Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that provides support and funding for special needs individuals in the areas of residential care, educational programs, medical care, vocational services and specialized facilities.

This is part of the December 31, 2009 online edition of The Regional.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you. Click here.