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Community Corner

Lillie Minarich birthday celebration 'dream' come true

     JOLIET – Lillie Minarich’s birthday celebration on Sept. 17 was a dream come true. Well, a mini dream, anyway.

     Minarich, a resident of Sunny Hill Nursing Home of Will County since 2012, always wanted to live to be 100 and have Willard Scott wish her a happy birthday and have her photo on The Today Show, but the segment is no longer aired.

     Since her wish in its original form could not be granted, staff members from both the nursing home and hospice, as well as her daughter and son-in-law, Anna and Wayne Gustafson, celebrated her 100th birthday a year and a few days early, calling it her “mini dream.” A photo will run on the facility’s in-house Channel 25. Minarich is a hospice patient with end-stage dementia.

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     Sunny Hill is a lifetime member of Second Wind Dreams, an organization which is devoted to fulfilling the dreams of nursing home residents. Staff at Sunny Hill ask residents if there is something they have always wished for, and then try to make the dreams come true. Past dreams have included a camel ride, teaching at a grade school, a motorcycle ride and a trip to a White Sox game.

     “The Second Wind Dreams program grants wishes for residents living in nursing facilities and provides opportunities for residents to make a wish and have it come true,” said Danette Krieger, Activity Director and Volunteer Coordinator. “No matter how small or large, we strive at Sunny Hill to make all of our residents’ wishes come true.”

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     Called her “99 and not holding” party, staff members decorated her room. Attendees, who included, P.K. Beville, founder and Chief of Executive Officer of Second Wind Dreams, Amy Safran, Director of Community Relations of Second Wind Dreams, Krieger and Jessica Jobe, Activity Assistant at Sunny Hill Nursing Home, sang to her and she was presented a bouquet of red roses, birthday balloons and posters.

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