An overflow of gems

by Melanie Jongsma, Director of Communications

Well, Torchlight is a week away. Our annual celebration of ministry accomplished by the Providence family is a tradition-rich event, as I wrote in an earlier post.

This year our theme is "Gems of Providence," a reference to the beautiful, multi-faceted people who serve and are served as part of this ministry. One of the highlights of the evening will be a couple of short videos that play out this theme.

In the Communications Department, we've been working on these videos for months — brainstorming, scripting, interviewing, taping, editing, reworking, finalizing, and producing. Throughout the process, over and over, the "Gems" theme was confirmed in ways that, unfortunately, most people will never realize.

For example, we taped interviews with half a dozen Providence employees, representing a range of departments, and every single interview was solid gold. I was impressed with not only the skill and expertise of our staff in Nursing, Environmental Services, Spiritual Development, Dining Services, and Life Enrichment, but also with their sincerity, their sense of mission, their humility. I count it an honor to serve with these people.

But the final videos we'll show to the Torchlight crowd next Friday night are only 3 minutes and 5 minutes long — not nearly enough time to display all the gems from all the interviews.

Rather than leave this overflow of gems "on the cutting room floor," we plan to post plenty of video clips to our website over the coming weeks. In the meantime, I want to post one of my favorites here. It's just a minute or two of our interview with Thomas Travaglio, our Environmental Services Director at Providence of Palos Heights. Watching it, I think you'll catch a glimpse of what makes Thomas one of the "Gems of Providence."

What about you? Do you know any "Gems of Providence"? I know there is a treasure trove out there, and each of us sees only a small part of it. Why not share the wealth? Submit a comment below, and let us know which Providence residents, employees, donors, or volunteers have enriched your life!