THE BUGLE/SENTINEL MAY 8, 2013
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Sunny Hill volunteers feted at annual ceremony Volunteers were honored for “making a difference in the lives of others” during an annual recognition ceremony Saturday, April 27, at Sunny Hill Nursing Home of Will County. Two individuals and one group were given special recognition for their efforts for the residents of Sunny Hill. “I really believe Sunny Hill wouldn’t be the place it is today without all of you and our other volunteers,” said Danette Krieger, Activity Director and Volunteer Coordinator at the countyowned facility at 421 Doris Ave. She noted that the reasons to volunteer are “as unique as the people here.” Krieger reported that 360 volunteers had shared their time and talents with the residents of Sunny Hill in 2012, putting in more than 12,000 hours. There were 43 community groups which provided help and activities last year, as well. One of those groups, the Aktion Club, was honored with the Helping Hands Group Award. The Aktion Club is part of the Kiwanis Club. The club allows adults with disabilities to participate in community service
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Sunny Hill Nursing Home Administrator Karen Isberg Sorbero holds the microphone for Mary Lauterbach, winner of this year’s Sunshine Resident Volunteer of the Year Award.
projects, gain leadership skills and become more positively involved in the community. Leader Terry Kunze accepted the award and thanked Sunny Hill for the recognition and the benefit the members get from their time at Sunny Hill. “What the Aktion Club does for Sunny Hill, Sunny Hill does tenfold for the Aktion Club.” Mary Lauterbach, who resigned her post as president of the resident council after 15 years, was named the Sunshine Resident Volunteer of the Year Award. Sunshine volunteers are residents who volunteer in their
nursing home community much like they did in their respective communities before moving to the facility. Sunshine volunteers do things like pass out mail, visit room-bound residents, make popcorn and help decorate for the holidays. In total, the Sunshine volunteers provided another 12,481 hours of service. Lauterbach praised the staff and volunteers for making Sunny Hill such a warm place to live. “Walk through the door and you’re home.” Claudia Green was touched to win the Schuth Gratia Deo Volunteer of the Year Award. Green accepted the award carrying Sophie, the therapy dog who accompanies her on visits to Sunny Hill. Green is also the president of the Friends of Sunny Hill Inc., an organization which raises money to buy the “extras” that can’t be accommodated by the county budget, such as a piano for the dining room, aquarium, wheelchairaccessible garden plots, and both the previous and current wheelchair-accessible
buses the facility uses to take residents on trips. Administrator Karen Isberg Sorbero said the day’s event was
one of her favorites of the year. She concluded Sunny Hill is in part the place it is because “you do what you do.”