St. Mary's Gives Flowers, Face Masks To Senior Star Memory Care

ROMEOVILLE, IL — Parishioners at St. Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Plainfield donated flowers and over a hundred home-made masks to the Romeoville-based Senior Star facilities on Wednesday. Pam Angelus, the parish's development director, said the masks were made by parish Administrative Assistant Margaret O'Leary from spare colored cloth. The flowers were originally ordered for Easter services.

"The flowers were ordered in advance for Easter," Angelus said, "and we were able to use some on the Altar but not all as we typically have Easter Mass in several locations."

With all parishes within the Diocese of Joliet having their Easter masses cancelled amid the coronavirus crisis, it seems the flowers were put to better use.

"Our flowers were already ordered, we couldn't cancel them," Angelus said. "We had all those flowers that we had to do something with, so we decided to donate them back to Senior Star. We also took some to HarborChase of Plainfield."

The parishioners from St. Mary's dropped off the items around 12:30, Senior star staff said. They also said the care center residents - and the staff themselves - appreciated the show of good will.

"It was really nice... we were happy to receive [the flowers and masks]," Senior Star representative Jaqueline Miranda said.

The 100 masks that the Senior Star facilities received were enough to equip the staff, Miranda said, though not enough to fit all the residents. The Senior Star facilities has so far had no confirmed cases of coronavirus. Miranda said staff are using personal protective equipment like masks and gloves on the job.

"We have our whole protective equipment," Miranda said. "We have gloves, masks and gowns."

St. Mary's has previously performed religious services for residents at Senior Star, and Angelus said parishioners there were happy to donate more for the sake of some of those most vulnerable during the current crisis.

"It's good just to be able to give back," Angelus said.