1 HighLights Holy Family Home 165 Aberdeen Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R2W 1T9 Phone: (204) 589-7381 [email protected]www.holyfamilyhome.mb.ca Easter 2015 In is Issue To Serve is To Love – Sister Georgina Yakimishyn SSMI Page 2 From the Desk of Jean R. Piché Page 3 News from the Ladies’ Auxiliary Page 5 Departmental Profile – Sacred Heart 2A Page 5 Heart of Our Community Page 5 Our Culture of Compassion – Defining Compassion Page 8 Also Congrats to 2014 Retirees Volunteer Week In the Spirit of Giving Long Term Service Awards Caritas Award Sock it to the Blues Medieval Merrymaking THE DISCIPLES WENT AND DID AS Jesus had instructed them. ey brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. e crowds that went ahead of him and those that fol- lowed shouted: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” e crowds answered, “is is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” А учні пішли та й зробили, як звелів їм Ісус. Вони привели до Ісуса ослицю й осля, і одежу поклали на них, і Він сів на них. І багато народу стелили одежу свою по дорозі, інші ж різали віття з дерев і стелили дорогою. А народ, що йшов перед Ним і позаду, викрикував, кажучи: Осанна Сину Давидовому! Благословенний, хто йде у Господнє Ім’я! Осанна на висоті! А коли увійшов Він до Єрусалиму, то здвигнулося ціле місто, питаючи: Хто це такий? А народ говорив: Це Пророк, Ісус із Назарету Галілейського!
Our Culture of Compassion – Defining Compassion Page 8
AlsoCongrats to 2014 Retirees Volunteer WeekIn the Spirit of GivingLong Term Service AwardsCaritas AwardSock it to the BluesMedieval Merrymaking
THE DISCIPLES WENT AND DID AS Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that fol-lowed shouted:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”“Blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord!”“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole
city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the
prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
А учні пішли та й зробили, як звелів їм Ісус. Вони привели до Ісуса ослицю й осля, і одежу поклали на них, і Він сів на них. І багато народу стелили одежу свою по дорозі, інші ж різали віття з дерев і стелили дорогою. А народ, що йшов перед Ним і позаду, викрикував, кажучи:
Осанна Сину Давидовому! Благословенний, хто йде у Господнє Ім’я! Осанна на висоті!А коли увійшов Він до Єрусалиму, то здвигнулося ціле місто, питаючи: Хто це такий?А народ говорив: Це Пророк, Ісус із Назарету Галілейського!
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To Serve is to LoveSister Georgina Yakimishyn ssmi
VICTORIA YAKIMISHYN WAS BORN IN Roblin, Manitoba to John & Emily (Brodie) Yakimishyn, a faith-filled couple who raised their children with a great love for family and God. Victoria is the second eldest of 7 chil-dren, 4 girls and 3 boys. Three of Victoria’s siblings have since passed away. Her little sister Elma, died as an infant, her brother Wally drowned, trying to rescue a non-swimmer
and her younger brother Michael passed away a few years ago. The remain-ing siblings, Sr. Ruth, Nicholas and Marie remain in close contact with one another.
Victoria received her early education in Roblin, St. Michael’s in Brandon and later at Sacred Heart Academy in Yorkton, Sask. While in Yorkton, the Sisters noticed Victoria’s desire to live her life serving God. Before complet-ing high school, Victoria responded to this inner call and entered the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate and thus taking the name Sister Georgina. Upon completing her high school as a Sister, Georgina pursued her educa-tion in Saskatoon University, majoring in psychology and music.
Sr. Georgina has a soul created for music. Her entire career in educa-tion consisted of teaching music, choir, psychology and ancient history. Her teaching spanned from missions in Pennsylvania to New York to Detroit to Montreal to St. Nicholas in Winnipeg and Mount Mary Academy – Ancast-er, Ontario. Sacred Heart Academy in Yorkton is where Sr. Georgina spent almost 20 years conducting choirs, teaching music and working on musical productions. Her last musical was Jesus Christ Superstar.
After retiring from teaching, Georgina continued to direct congregation and parish choirs in Saskatoon, Hamilton, Winnipeg and Calgary. While in Winnipeg, Sr. Georgina worked at the University of Manitoba organizing Obnova, conducting music at St. Anne’s Parish and organizing Youth for Christ Rallies that were held in the 80’s. She also had the opportunity to be part of the Sister’s Mission in Lourdes, France and had a sabbatical in the Holy Land, which was a true gift in her life.
Sr. Georgina has a great love for people, being warm hearted and gifted with a sense of humor. Wherever her mission took her she always made herself available to the people she served.
Life’s journey has taken her to many places and throughout these travels she has had the opportunity to draw upon her gifts fully. Last year, she celebrated 70 years of Religious Life with the Sisters Servants. She contin-ues to reflect her care with the Sisters at Bethany Home in Winnipeg and is delighted to be able to reside with her dear sister, Sister Ruth.
In The Spirit of GivingDURING THE CHRISTMAS SEASON, THE HFH’s night staff enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Nor-Villa Hotel. In past years, staff usually participated in a gift exchange but this year in lieu of gifts, staff made a dona-tion of $120.00 to Welcome Home. We appreciate the night staff ’s generosity towards such a worthy charity.
Volunteer Week – April 12-18THANKS to all the volunteers who dedicate their pre-cious time and love to our residents, from the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate and Holy Family Home.
2014-2015 Volunteer Hours at HFH:* 12,982 hours served
*The equivalent of 6.5 full time staff a year.
Congrats to 2014 RetireesThe following individuals are staff members who retired in 2014 from Holy Family Home. We wish to thank them for their many years of devoted service and will pray that they enjoy their retirement in good health, much happi-ness, surrounded by love.
We are indeed fortunate to work as caregivers within the scope and spirit of the Sisters’ inspiring charism. We rely on the Sisters’ ethos and Mission to guide us every day. Their devotion over the years has meant so much to the residents of Holy Family Home and our greater community. It is gratifying to know that they (and several other orders of consecrated women Religious in our province) are being honoured with the Caritas Award. This prestigious honour, which HFH was fortunate to have received last year alongside Actionmarguerite and St. Joseph’s Residence, is being awarded by the Catholic Foundation of Manitoba and the Catholic Health Associa-tion of Manitoba.
Like other religious orders, the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate have created a legacy of compassionate care throughout Manitoba. This heritage of caring is tran-scendent here at Holy Family Home. Our day-to-day work is a clear reflection of the Sisters’ lifelong religiousness, a commitment summed up by Pope Francis’ dedication of 2015 as the Year of Consecrated Life.
Pope Francis has said that those who respond to the call to follow Jesus Christ are “men and women who can awaken the world. Consecrated life is prophecy. God asks us to fly the nest and to be sent to the frontiers of the world, avoiding the temptation to ‘domesticate’ them. This is the most concrete way of imitating the Lord.”
His Holiness’ words clearly express the Sisters’ historic legacy. Their Mission began in Canada in 1902 and since then they have inspired many generations to become courageous caregivers. We are truly grateful for their resolute vision, kind-hearted leadership and quiet example of how to lovingly care for those whose need is the greatest.
When we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday, let’s all take time to remember the lessons that Christ’s life and death hold for us. Through Jesus’ actions, we learn gracious living. Through His death, we discover everlasting life. Through His loving message we understand how to make a difference in the lives of those we care about and those we care for. On behalf of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immacu-late, the Board of Directors and Administration of Holy Family Home, please accept my best wishes for a Blessed Easter.
Jean R. Piché Chief Executive Officer
Long Term Service Awards 2014THE LONG TERM SERVICE AWARDS Ceremony is an annual event at Holy Fam-ily Home. We honour those staff members who have reached significant milestones for their dedicated years of service, professional excellence and loving care to residents.
The ceremony for recipients who achieved their milestones in 2014 will be held on Thursday, May 7, 2015.
1979 – 35 years Mario Tolentino – HCAHelen Korade – RN
1974 – 40 years Darlene Medwid – HCANatividad Villaverde – HCAErlinda de Guzman – HCATeresita Aragon – HCA
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Heart of Our CommunityLubov SSMI Foundation
ON BEHALF OF THE SISTERS SERVANTS OF MARY IMMACULATE, Holy Family Home and our Lubov SSMI Foundation, thank you to all those who continue to support the Holy Family Home. Your generosity helps ensure that our residents at Holy Family Home have the best care possible, especially with those things that are important to our unique environment.
We especially thank all those that responded to the Holy Family Home Festival of Lights campaign. The campaign was to raise dollars for our Chapel Project. This project will cost approximately $300,000 to complete; therefore the Festival of Lights goal for 2014 is to raise $100,000 in each of the next three years.
We are so grateful and humbled to report that $137,059 was raised in the first year of this three-year campaign. Thank you to our donor community for your generosity.
Gifts to RememberMANY DONORS CHOOSE TO MAKE their contribution in the form of a memorial gift. From December 6th to February 28th, the Lubov SSMI Foundation received donations for Holy Family Home in memory� of the following:
Farlane BabulalHarry BakuskaFr. A. BaranSandi BassetMichael BenzelockRosemary BergeseVerna & Michael BeskoAnna BieganowskiPeter BilawkaBodykevich Family &
Family MembersMary Margaret CampbellCharlene Cyr & John
RizokWalter ChliboykoStefan ChomtschynChonstke familyChrysantha ChrunikFr. J. CormyloMyroslava DerzkoMary and Andrew DilayStan DilayStan DovyakFlorence DrewniakFred DudychBohdan DushenchukOlga & Michael DutkaJohn & Anne Ewanek
Doris EwankoNellie & Michael
GawronskiJosie J. HafichukRoman & Maria
HalkewyczAnna & Michael
HarahucPhilip HauserHawrysyshyn & Kozoris
FamiliesHoly Eucharist deceased
Brotherhood membersBill & Doris HuzelIwan IwanchukMargaret JablonskiVerna JacobsonLidija JankovecJoyce JaworskiDonald JohannsenTeresa KasianMichael KepronAnn & Peter KisilJoan KlymkiwMary KohuchJack & Rose KolisnykMary KonechnyMichael & Vera
deceased membersIan SalkeldManuel SantosPauline SawchukCec SemchyshynMichael & Mary SeniukHelen Senkiw
Helen & Adrian Shepertycky
Fr. Ihor ShpytkovskyAlice (Slonowski) SpringTekla StefanishynPeter SumkaPeter, Margaret & Silvia
SwidinskyAnna & Paul SychOlga SzumikJoyce ThurlowRev. Tom ThurlowCatherine TorbiakJohn & Mary TrachMartha UderUrchenko ParentsKateryna WaplakAlex & Maria WasyliwDaniel & Mary
WawrykowAnna WencekRichard WinnickyMel WitwickiWilliam B. WladykaStella WolnickJohn ZborowskyAnnie, Nick & Maurice
ZemliakRegina ZendzianParaskevia ZubachMary Zuk
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Departmental ProfileSacred Heart 2A
THE CHALLENGES OF PROVIDING EXCELLENT care to our resi-dents are of utmost importance for all Holy Family Home staff members. In facing these challenges head on, it is evident that team spirit and co-operation amongst co-workers on Sacred Heart has had a very positive impact on the resident care.
Also evident is the special relationship that caregivers have nurtured with the residents on 2A. What is apparent is the trust, respect, compassion and friendship that exists between care providers and residents. The genuine con-cern that the caregivers exhibit towards their co-workers and all the residents on 2A is a significant factor that is reflected in the cohesive relationships that are so noticeable there.“Everyone is so nice to me and caring, always checking up on us, bringing us what we need.” — Judy Plexman
Ladies’ Auxilary NewsWe’re Having a Bake Sale
Friday, May 810:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.Drop by Town Square and pick up some wonderful home baking.We appreciate all your support!
Gifts in HonourTHANK YOU TO THE MANY donors who choose to honour a loved one in the form of a tribute gift. From September December 6th to February 28th, the Lubov SSMI Foundation received donations for Holy Family Home in honour of the following:(Granddaughter) AmeliaCarrie BoynowskiCarnan and Connelly FamiliesVladimir HaminGilbert HrysioBoris JacenkiwAnna KobakPatricia MalchukElise OstedStephania PankewyczHoly Family Home ResidentsJan SnitowskiMary SumkaAnna WencekWe apologize for any errors or omissions.
For more information or to make a donation contact:Lubov SSMI Foundation Inc.1085 Main Street Winnipeg, MB R2W 3S1Phone: 204-942-0443Email: [email protected] donate online, visit: www.lubovfoundation.ca
1. Day staff, Front, (L-R): Teresa Pawlowich, Anna Lee Napigkit. Back, (L-R): Rockmini Ramos, Agnes Wieczorkiewicz, Maria Palmer, Sandra Katchnoski, Mariya Beley.
2. Evening staff, (L-R): Nena Baquiran, Kathy Hemmerling, Susan Millares.
3. Night staff, (L-R): Zena Szustakowski, Irene Pych.
4. Day staff, (L-R): Marzenna Lis, Generosa Panganiban, Magdalena Alvarez.
Caritas AwardTHE CATHOLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION OF MANITOBA (CHAM) has initiated a project entitled Legacy of Care, Courage and Compassion, which acknowl-edges the tremendous con-tribution of all consecrated Religious women in Manitoba. Pope Francis has designated 2015 as the Year of the Conse-crated in recognition of those who have responded to the call to follow Jesus Christ in a challenging way, and who have taken vows to leave some aspects of the world behind to put themselves at the service of their brothers and sisters.
Accordingly, the Sisters Ser-vants of Mary Immaculate will be one of the orders honoured at the Caritas Dinner this year. A number of other initiatives will be announced over the next 18 months to honour all Religious women in Manitoba. The SSMI have had (and con-tinue to have) a tremendous impact on the community in Winnipeg and Manitoba (and beyond) and are truly deserv-ing of this recognition.
Let’s Go To the Hop!Sock It To the BluesIn February, as the dreariness of winter beset us, HFH staff had the opportunity to “Sock It To The Blues.” During the week of February 10th to the 13th, staff enjoyed the music and lifestyles of the 1950s. The Staff Wellness team organized a variety of events, including games, contests, and a jive dance class. The fun also included ice cream sodas, which were thoroughly enjoyed by participating staff and residents. A big thank you goes to Brenda Bay, Shirley Picklyk and Diane Snidal for coordi-nating the events.
1. Learning to dance, 1950s-style. 2. Lilia and Olya at the sock hop. 3. Shirley and Brenda – BFFs. 4. Evelyn and Shirley enjoying ice cream sodas. 5. Mrs. Kawka enjoys the party. 6. Mebruka skipping at the hop. 7. Anna Marie is forever blowing bubbles. 8. What’s a party without popcorn, Coke, bubblegum and ice cream sodas? 9. Ann is the pink lady. 10. “Is that Peggy Sue? No it’s Debbie.” 11. Halia, Irena and Zena with their Hula Hoops.
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Medieval Merrymaking“Sisters of the Round Table” was the theme of this year’s annual HFH Fundraising Dinner, which was attended by almost 300 supporters. Beautiful medieval costumes, decorations and the amusing commentaries of our MCs – Roman Korbutiak and John Daughney – enhanced the evening. All proceeds from this event go
towards the purchase of identified items that will enrich the quality of life for our residents.
Everyone enjoyed the fun-filled evening, and we look forward to the creative ideas of Lydia Kandia and her great team, for next year’s dinner.
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1. Margaret Saray 2. Lesia Szwaluk and Luke Kandia 3. Irene Romaniw 4. Marijka Diakiw, Myrosia Romaniuk, Irka Semeniuk 5. Marijka Chabliuk 6. Alex de Vries 7. L-R: Sylvia Todaschuk, Sr. Ruth Aney, Hannia Ivan, Luke Kandia, Sr. Darleane Pelechaty, Rosemarie Todaschuk. 8. Lydia and Luke Kandia 9. Our MCs for the night – Roman Korbutiak and John Daughney 10. Sr. Ruth Aney, Kathy Lentz and Anna Marie Konopelny 11. Cynthia Bryant and Olga Starshok 12. L-R: Carrie Prince, Mary Anne Klasz, Sr. Darleane Pelechaty, Barb Kellas, Sr. Charlene, Cindy Magee 13. Front, (L-R): Ollie Babick, Donna Babick, Sandra Lytwyn. Back, (L-R): Barb Bielak, Pat Bielak, Kathy Dobriansky, Vera Shawarsky, Orysia Koster, Lydia Kandia.
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Our Mission Emanating from the charism of the SSMI,
Holy Family Home ministers holistic personal care services to seniors with
compassion and the love of Christ.
Defining Compassion
Our Culture of Compassion
Heritage HighlightsEaster is a glorious celebration for all ages. Blessing of the Easter baskets in 2002.
Nurturing Compassion10 THINGS you can do to strengthen
your own compassionate self. *
1Look after yourself first.
2Take self-care walks or work out.
3Enjoy a “purposeful pause.
4Be open to forgiveness.
5Pray and ask for help.
6Accept your mistakes and try again.
7Be respectful, not reactive.
8Follow the Golden Rule.
9Nourish your virtues.
10Be an example to others.
* Wise words from HFH’s Compassion Project
What is compassion? Holy Family Home is defining the word in context with the loving work done here by our broad-based team of caregivers, and the Compassion Project is at the heart of this process of dis-covery. Members of our staff have engaged in a unique program that helped generate a deeper understanding of compassion in an already caring environment.
The dialogue that arose from their many discus-sions about compassion has presented us with an honest portrayal of how we think and speak about the empathic power and life-changing possibilities of the word. For many of us, compassion is defined as “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes” or “when you feel another person’s feelings.” The Compassion Project has allowed us to go deeper. In our conversations, people spoke about compassion starting in the heart and ending up as a purposeful pres-ence in another person’s life.
When you’re self-aware, compassion at its heart is a very simple act. When you’re sensitive to your needs and can take steps to meet them, you become better equipped to care for others. In essence, it’s easy to move from self-respect to respect for others. This
respectful path is impor-tant to our understanding of compassion because caring for others is also an important way of caring for ourselves.
We asked our partici-pants to give examples of how compassion shows itself in their work lives. Many talked about feel-ing it in the kindness of those around them, of compassion being a sense of connectedness with their
co-workers and the residents for whom they care. If compassion is a feeling, an emotion, then it is closely linked to the ethos rooted in the Sisters’ Mission and our motto – To Serve is to Love. By defining compassion, we are also defining our true selves.
In essence, it’s easy to move from self-respect to respect for others.
