From one nonprofit to another:
                                           It’s a beautiful thing! 

Trinity Services residents create bracelets for Together We Cope fundraiser

Brooke sports one of the bracelets she has made at Trinity Services Inc. while she concentrates on another piece she is making for Together We Cope.LADIES IN TRINITY SERVICES JEWELRY-MAKING PROGRAM ARE ON A MISSION THIS MONTH: Create 200 beaded bracelets to help another nonprofit agency raise money at its dinner dance.
      Seventeen women in the program for adults with developmental disabilities gather in a craft room in New Lenox each day to knit and crochet hats and scarves, hook rugs, make holiday ornaments or create jewelry. Patrice Brice of New Lenox initiated the jewelry component when she came to Trinity as program coordinator about five years ago after a 30-year career in the jewelry business.
      The ladies are making bracelets for Together We Cope’s annual dinner dance Feb. 24 at the Odyssey Country Club in Tinley Park. Longtime TWC volunteers John and Pat Slack of New Lenox, who also do work at Trinity, will purchase the bracelets and donate them to the dinner dance. The bracelets then will be sold to guests for $20 apiece, and each bracelet includes a chance to win a diamond bracelet to be raffled during the evening.
Kelley concentrates on stringing the beads in a specific pattern for bracelets she’s helping make for Together We Cope’s dinner dance.      “Everybody wins,” said Pat Slack. “The ladies at Trinity earn money for their program, Together We Cope raises money for its programs, dinner guests get a lovely bracelet and some lucky lady walks off with a real diamond bracelet!”
      The jewelry-making program is popular with the Trinity residents. “We have women in their 20s through 82, and they love making pretty pieces for themselves or to give as gifts to each other on special occasions,” Brice said. Many of the items created in the craft program, including the jewelry, are featured in the annual Christmas sale at Trinity.
      Kathryn Straniero, executive director of Together We Cope, said this year’s bracelet project is a special effort. “I love that each piece is created individually by the women at Trinity. Purchasing one of their bracelets at TWC’s dinner dance becomes both a donation to our agency and a compliment to the hard work by the Trinity ladies.”
      Trinity Services Inc. is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization founded in 1950 as the Trinity School in Joliet by a group of parents of children with developmental disabilities. Since then it has grown to include a wide range of programs and services for children and adults, as well as a residential program. Further information is at www.trinity-services.org.