December 14, 2009 - For Immediate Release

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LOYOLA PEDIATRIC MOBILE HEALTH UNIT, SANTA TO HELP AREA CHILDREN DEMONSTRATE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

Children of Sacred Heart School to Donate Toys to Our Lady of Lourdes School

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- They have very little themselves, but what little they do have, the children of Sacred Heart School in Melrose Park will share with children who have even less at Catholic Charities’ Our Lady of Lourdes Family Strengthening Center in Lawndale. Days before Christmas, the children of Sacred Heart will give toys they have gathered to Santa who will take them to the children at Our Lady of Lourdes. “The community is strapped financially, but the children still give. It is heart-warming and inspirational,” said Barbara Ciconte, principal, Sacred Heart School. The Pediatric Mobile Health Unit of the Ronald McDonald® Children’s Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood will serve as Santa’s sleigh and transport the toys to Our Lady of Lourdes. “This means a lot, because many of our children won’t otherwise receive much for Christmas,” said Debbie O’Brien, director, Our Lady of Lourdes. “It means even more to our students to know that the gifts will come from other children.”

WHO: Santa Claus, children of Melrose Park and Lawndale, employees of Loyola University Health System

WHEN: Toy pick up takes place at 1 p.m. on December 16; toy drop-off takes place at 10 a.m. on December 17.

WHERE:

Toy Pick Up

Sacred Heart School (School Courtyard)

815 N. 16th Ave., Melrose Park

Toy Drop-Off

Catholic Charities’ Our Lady of Lourdes Family Strengthening Center

1444 S. Keeler Ave., Chicago

Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and 28 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 561-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus in Melrose Park includes the 264-bed community hospital, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness and the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Care Center.