Misericordia Letter from Father Jack 

September 20, 2024

Greetings Co-workers and Families,

We have celebrated several holidays since I last wrote. I hope everyone had a good 4th of July and Labor Day. The long weekends are really nice.

From the 4th of July until right before Labor Day, the Human Resources (HR) Sub-committee of the Board met very often to make their recommendation for a new Vice President of HR Services. We are pleased to announce that Hayes Kennedy has joined us in this role. He comes to us from Conagra, but with a wide variety of HR experience. His family has been familiar with Misericordia for years. We are delighted to welcome him as he spends his first couple of weeks meeting everyone and getting acquainted with us. Welcome Hayes! Thanks to Sharon Keane for her years of dedicated service and keeping the Department together as we searched.

On the 24th of July we moved furniture into the first home at Rosemary Park. It looks great. We now have 4 months to take care of the rest of the homes as construction is completed. We will spend a great deal of energy hiring staff so that we can try and open the first two homes in January.

The rest of the summer moved on rather quietly. We are very sad to say goodbye to 8 residents since then. We lost Julio Garcia, Dalexa Repizo-Medel, Stacey Donnelly, Austin McGing, John Howard, Sarah Cline, Katie Figliulo and Scott Mead. May they all rest in God’s peace. This has been very hard on all of the staff.  

We have been delighted to welcome back John Dyer, member of our Board of Directors, who coordinates team sports every Thursday night. We are so glad to have John and his group back. Many of the residents love these events.

We were also glad to welcome the DePaul University Women’s Basketball team to DT. Thanks to long- time friend Coach Doug Bruno for making this happen.

Congratulations to Hugh Connolly and his crew for another great Heartlinks golf outing event. They had a beautiful day on the course.

A special shout out to John and Maggie Wrenn who hosted our Summer Concert at Theater on the Lake. Thanks to Maggie, John and their committee for all of their hard work and a great event!

Our heartfelt thanks to all who worked to make our Fest such a success. Many of the set-up crew took weeks off of work to be here to make it all happen under the direction of John Tortorello and his Crew. The Kitchen, the Foundation and all areas stepped up to make a wonderful Fest. Thanks to God for the beautiful weather. The final number is not yet in, but I am sure we did very well.

Thanks to all areas who have welcomed nearly 20 new residents to campus of late. We want them to feel welcome and hope they are very happy with their lives here at Misericordia. More will be coming in very shortly. New life is a wonderful gift to our mission, but not without its challenges. Thank you Staff for all you do to care for everyone! Thanks to the O’Brien Family from the East Coast who made the gift of a new home on Winnemac Avenue in memory of their son. SIx young men are now enjoying a new home because of them.

Construction will begin shortly on an addition to the Moore Aquatic and Fitness Center. A woman toured Misericordia with me two weeks ago and has since made a seven-figure gift to get the project going. Anyone who would like to help us pay for the balance, please reach out and let us know.

We continue to be so Blessed. Keep praying for us and we will pray for you! Have a Beautiful Fall!

Blessings,

Fr. Jack Clair