Ceremonies to be held in Effingham, Decatur, Litchfield, Shelbyville and Springfield hosted by HSHS Home Care
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — HSHS Home Care invites community members to join them for butterfly release ceremonies at locations throughout central Illinois at these Hospital Sisters Health System hospitals:
- HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital, Effingham
Thursday, May 15 at 5:30 p.m. in the Healing Garden.
- HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital, Decatur
Tuesday, May 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the Cancer Center Garden.
- HSHS St. Francis Hospital, Litchfield
Wednesday, May 28 at 5:30 p.m. in the circle drive by St. Francis statue.
- HSHS Good Shepherd Hospital, Shelbyville
Thursday, May 29 at 4 p.m. in the Healing Garden (east side of hospital)
- HSHS St. John’s Hospital, Springfield
Thursday, June 5 at 5:30 p.m., Pavilion Garden
Family and friends are invited to celebrate and remember the life of a loved one who has passed. The ceremonies will include the reading of the names of those being honored in addition to the butterfly release.
Valerie Engelbart, Bereavement Services Supervisor for HSHS Home Care, said, “These butterfly release ceremonies provide a special time for families in our communities to honor their loved ones. The butterfly represents the transformation of the spirit as our loved ones transition from this life. As we release butterflies together, we celebrate the lives that have touched our hearts and find comfort in our shared experiences of love and loss.”
In addition to attending to honor a loved one, you are invited to personally release a butterfly for your loved one by reserving a butterfly for $15 to be paid prior to the ceremony. To purchase a butterfly and/or RSVP for the ceremony, contact Engelbart by calling or texting 217-685-0702 or emailing valerie.engelbart@hshs.org.
You may also reserve a butterfly online by visiting giving.hshs.org/sae/donate and following these steps:
- Select “Hospice/Everlasting Memories/Butterfly Release” under the Designation section.
- Select “This gift is in honor, memory or support of someone” under the Tribute Gift section and fill in the name of your loved one.
For more information about HSHS, visit hshs.org.
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About HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital
HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital, Effingham, celebrating 150 years of serving the Effingham community, is part of Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS), a nonprofit Catholic health care ministry founded in 1875. Dedicated to our Mission to reveal and embody Christ’s healing love for all people through high-quality Franciscan health care, HSHS clinicians provide exceptional care centered on the whole person. Based in Springfield, Illinois, HSHS employs nearly 11,000 colleagues who provide care in 13 acute-care, children’s and critical-access hospitals and home health and hospice programs in Central and Southern Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin. HSHS is aligned with more than 1,000 primary and specialty physicians and advanced practitioners through its owned affiliates HSHS Medical Group and Prairie Cardiovascular and its partnership with Prevea Health. For more information about HSHS, visit hshs.org.