May 18, 2024
Shaw Local
NewsSubscribePrep SportsThank You First RespondersNewsletterObituarieseNewspaperThe SceneEvent Calendar

Trinity Services fulfills holiday wish lists of 400 people with disabilities throughout Illinois

One donor was just 11 – and donated from his own money

By Denise M. Baran-Unland
Top left: Phillipa, who receives support from Trinity’s Residential Network III, smiles with a BTS calendar she received on Christmas morning at her home in Joliet. Bottom left: Josh, who receives support from Trinity’s Residential Network III, opens his gifts on Christmas morning at his home in Crete. Right: Marty, who receives support from Trinity Services’ Residential Network II, in Wilmington, holds up a gift he received through the Giving Tree Program.

Top left: Phillipa, who receives support from Trinity’s Residential Network III, smiles with a BTS calendar she received on Christmas morning at her home in Joliet. Bottom left: Josh, who receives support from Trinity’s Residential Network III, opens his gifts on Christmas morning at his home in Crete. Right: Marty, who receives support from Trinity Services’ Residential Network II, in Wilmington, holds up a gift he received through the Giving Tree Program. (Photo provided)

Trinity Services’ inaugural Giving Tree Program provided holiday gifts to approximately 400 people with developmental disabilities and mental illness that Trinity Supports.

Trinity supports people from the Joliet, New Lenox, Wilmington, Des Plaines and northern Chicago areas.

Not a wish list went unclaimed. Meaning, anyone who submitted a list had their holiday wishes come true.

People living in Illinois as well as other states, donated to the program. One donor was Kenny Bodzianowski, Jr., 11, of New Lenox, who used his own money. Another was Mokena resident Tessa Quinlan.

“I chose to participate because I am thankful and blessed by all the support my family gets caring for our special needs son, so I know how hard it can be at times,” Quinlan said in a news release from Trinity Services. “This is my way of giving back to a community that I know supports those like my son. It is humbling and heartwarming to me to know our family’s support can make a small difference in someone else’s life. I know no matter how big or small the support is, what it really means is that somebody cares.”

Here’s why the Giving Tree program was so needed.

Some of the people who receive support from Trinity don’t have contact with family members or have no living family members.

Some don’t have the financial means to buy themselves things they want for the holidays.

Finally, some of the people who are supported by Trinity’s Homeless Support Program may be moving into homes of their own for the first time or starting over and in need of household items.

Trinity is also selling 2021 wall calendars featuring original artwork made by people Trinity supports. Visit trinityservices.org/calendar.