Misericordia's HEART of GOLD

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: THERESA MCCLEAR, DIANE FRITZ, NANCY JACOB, AND JANET MEYER.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARCELLO RODARTE

Misericordia's Heart of Gold

BY MIKE ELLIS

The Misericordia Women’s League is honoring four Hinsdale sisters who have been instrumental in aiding the organization at its annual benefit on Feb. 28.

The women’s league supports Misericordia, which supplies residences to roughly 600 individuals with special needs at its campus on the North Side of Chicago.

Each year, the league presents a “Heart of Gold” award to individuals who have made substantial contributions to Misericordia. This year, the award will be presented to four Ryan sisters—Mary Ryan Buddig, Donna Ryan Coffey, Therese Ryan Rooney and Eileen Ryan Seyfarth— for 25 years of “outstanding leadership, dedication and service to Misericordia residents.”

The Ryans, who grew up in Hinsdale and still reside in the village today, had a younger sister, Jean Marie Ryan, who was born with Down syndrome, a hole in her heart and a hole in her esophagus.

According to Buddig, their mother spotted a sign on the highway for Misericordia, pulled off and visited the organization’s South Side campus. She said Sister Rosemary Connelly, the longtime executive director of Misericorida, was “the first person she met.”

“Jean Marie Ryan went to Misericordia soon after that chance meeting, and lived there for the next year or so,” Coffey said.

Buddig said in those days, various modern surgical treatments had not been developed to treat Jean’s assortment of defects, and she died roughly a year after moving in.

But the impression Misericordia made on the Ryan family remained, and has endured long after Jean’s passing.

Buddig said their parents built the Jean Marie Community Center on the North Side campus in their departed sister’s honor, which Theresa McClear, cochair of the February benefit, said is “well utilized.”

“That was our connection, and we really never lost that connection to Misericordia,” Buddig said. “Our motto has been, forever, whatever Sister Rosemary wants or asks for, we pretty much figure out a way to get it for her.” Buddig described the familial environment that Misericordia residents feel on the campus, stating that “they feel so much love and acceptance and joy—and they’re never told they can’t do something.”

She said it is something like a collegiate atmosphere for individuals with special needs, who find jobs on campus or in the surrounding community, and make lasting friendships with peers with whom they enjoy meals, games and activities. “For a lot of people that have their kids there now, it was harder actually on the parents than it was on the kids, making that transition,” Buddig said.

I have looked at many organizations throughout our area, and by far, Misericordia has the highest quality of care and service for our individuals

-THERESA MCCLEAR

Years later, Misericordia acquired its current North Side campus through the Archdiocese of Chicago, and it sold its South Side home.

Rooney said the South Side campus was “more accessible” to west suburban residents, and accordingly, in 1996, the Ryan sisters spearheaded an initiative to launch a women’s league in the western suburbs, akin to the women’s board that had previously been established on the North Shore, to raise awareness about Misericordia in the region, while tendering financial support to the organization as well.

“The people we gathered and have gotten to know through our Misericordia league are simply amazing, and such a blessing in our lives,” Coffey said.

Through the years, the women’s league has evolved from black-tie fundraisers to casino nights to March Madness-themed events, raising approximately $9 million through its efforts.

“[The fundraiser] supports an unbelievable organization,” Buddig said. “It’s almost impossible to find a place like Misericordia. That’s really why all these women in the western suburbs, as well as the board up north, have been so giving of their time and their talent to make sure this happens.”

Due to a reduction in government funding in recent years, Misericordia has been called upon to raise more funds in order to sustain its current services.

Because the organization does not turn away prospective residents due to an inability to pay, and an estimated 20 percent of its residents are wards of the state, league president Nancy Jacob said Misericordia needs to raise $19 million annually to supply the deficit accruing from the depletion of government funding.

At this year’s benefit, the women’s league is modifying its approach, changing up from the popular “March Madness” theme that it employed for the better part of the last decade, to “a touch of country,” with guests encouraged to wear casual Western attire.

“Our event will always be ‘Heart of Gold,’” McClear said. ... “We wanted an event-brand recognition.”

Benefit organizers said they are hoping to attract 500 attendees to the Hilton-Oak Brook Hills Resort on Feb. 28, where they would like to raise $500,000 to support programs and services at Misericordia.

“I have looked at many organizations throughout our area, and by far, Misericordia has the highest quality of care and service for our individuals,” McClear said. ... “They offer our children a life of dignity and respect and [recreation], and a full life for our children to be the best that they can be.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARCELLO RODARTE

The Ryan sisters are continuing their involvement with the women’s league by running the golf outing, held annually at Oak Park Country Club in River Grove in the fall.

Buddig and Rooney encouraged others to visit Misericordia’s North Side campus to fully appreciate the impact the organization makes on the lives of individuals with special needs.

“If you haven’t been to Misericordia, the most important thing is to get there, and to see what a wonderful loving, caring place it is,” Buddig said.

“It sells itself,” Rooney said. “You can’t leave there without smiling.”

The Misericordia Women’s League will present “Heart of Gold with a Touch of Country,” its annual benefit, at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 28 at the Hilton-Oak Brook Hills Resort in Oak Brook. Tickets are available at www.events.org/misheartofgold, and may be purchased for $225 on or before Feb. 6, or for $250 starting Feb. 7. Proceeds benefit programs at Misericordia for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. For more information about the women’s league or Misericordia in general, visit www.misericordia. com. ■