Hope Project Fund
Hospice Hope Project
Fulfills End-of-Life Wishes
Read on to see how Ron Milbert’s family
was blessed with a special gift
Ron Milbert loved telling stories and he was able to leave stories – and his voice – behind for his loved ones.
Recordable books were provided by the Hospice Hope Project Fund administered by the Blessing Foundation.
Bonnie Milbert was losing her husband, Ron.
The couple had been married 47 years and raised three beautiful children. Ron still enjoyed telling stories about how he and Bonnie fell in love. He was a true family man. It was agonizing to realize their time together was limited.
But despite the physical and emotional difficulties associated with a terminal illness, Bonnie said the last 15 months of Ron’s life were special.
Diagnosed with kidney failure in early 2018, after recovering from two heart attacks several years earlier, Ron decided that he didn’t want to go on dialysis. At his doctor’s urging, Ron entered hospice care.
“It took us by surprise,” Bonnie said. “We didn’t think it was that time.”
Hospice Nurse & Social Worker Were ‘Like Daughters to Him’
Hospice turned out to be a godsend to Bonnie and their three grown children, Jessie, Mona, and Jerome, and it provided Ron companionship, love, joy, and peace at the end of life.
“They were wonderful to us,” Bonnie said of the Blessing Hospice and Palliative Care staff. Registered nurse Molly Schulte and social worker Trista Neisen became like family. “We came to just love them,” Bonnie said.
When Ron died on August 5, 2019, at age 77, his obituary mentioned Molly and Trista, saying “they were like daughters to him and made his journey much easier, by their loving words and care.”
Molly visited Ron and the family at their Loraine home twice a week, and Trista stopped in to see how everyone was doing every few weeks.
“Ron felt very comfortable with them. They were always interested in his stories. He always said he wasn’t a social person, but he always liked to tell stories – about his hunting or how we met and fell in love, stories about his childhood. He had new ears to hear his stories,” Bonnie said, laughing as she reminisced.
“It was a relief for me,” she added. “It helped me to know that he was happy talking about it and to know that somebody else was coming in and helping out. The physical checkup was wonderful, but also the companionship they shared with us.”
Blessing Foundation Gift Allows Ron’s Voice to Live On
Perhaps the most cherished gesture came right before Christmas time in 2018. Ron took a turn for the worse on Thanksgiving Day, and the family worried that he wouldn’t be able to celebrate Christmas. They started talking about an early celebration.
Molly told Bonnie that her mother-in-law had been in hospice care and that the family got a recordable book for her to record her voice.
“Every Christmas Eve, she reads ‘’Twas the Night Before Christmas’ to us,” Molly said of her mother-in-law’s voice on a recordable book. “It’s a tough road to lose a loved one, but to be able to have that special memory … I started thinking about those books for Ron’s kids, so they’d be able to hear his voice.”
Trista went to Kirlin’s Hallmark and found three books – one for each child. They were purchased with Blessing Foundation funds earmarked for Blessing Hospice’s Hope Project – kind of a smaller version of “Make-a-Wish.”
Ron and Bonnie did the recordings together, including one Bible story that their oldest daughter, Jessie, would read every Christmas Eve.
“I would read a page and Ron would read a page, so it was both of our voices on it,” Bonnie said. “We got them done and talked about having Christmas early to give them to the kids. But he got better and made it through Christmas.”
Jessie, Mona, and Jerome loved the gifts, but weren’t ready to listen to them just yet.
“But their daddy’s voice is there if they want to hear him,” Bonnie said. “We have home movies of different holidays and things, but those don’t have the sound. Just having something with his voice on it and knowing the circumstance at the time is something they treasure.”
Recording the books for his children and grandchildren was something Ron treasured, as well.
Bonnie was overwhelmed by the generosity and compassion shown by Molly, Trista, and the rest of the Blessing Hospice team. She remains grateful for the Hope Project and the Blessing Foundation for giving the family such a meaningful gift.
“I just couldn’t imagine they’d want to spend money to do something for us,” she said. “I’m so grateful they thought of something like that. It meant as much or more to me than it did Ron, just to have that special thing, that special voice.”
Hospice Hope Project Fund Grants End-of-Life Wishes
Trista says working as part of the Blessing Hospice team is as rewarding for staff as it is for the families that they help through such difficult times. The Hope Project, which was launched in October 2012 with a generous grant from the Blessing Foundation Board of Trustees, has been a true blessing.
“We saw a need,” Trista said. “As we talked with families, they were looking at end-of-life wishes and didn’t feel they had the time or money to try to make those things happen. They want to do it, but don’t know how. So, we do it for them. It’s an amazing thing that we can offer it to our families.”
The Hope Project fulfills a range of wishes, including wheelchair repairs, family reunions, anniversary dinners, children’s Christmas gifts, family photo shoots, iPads to communicate with out-of-town family, and other last wishes or bucket list items.
“Some of them cry,” Trista said. “All of them are very appreciative that we’ve taken the time to do that for them, to make things a little more meaningful for them. It brings a family closer together.”
Molly says the Blessing Foundation’s Hope Project is a wonderful program.
“We’re blessed to have it to be able to do these things for our families, to make those memories,” she said. “It’s very heartwarming to be able to provide those personal wishes.”
As for Ron and Bonnie Milbert and their family, Molly and Trista said it was a joy to help with the recordable books.
“They said it was one of the best Christmases they had,” Trista said.
Your Gift Can Offer Hope & Comfort
The Blessing Foundation, through another fund called Big Hearts TAPP, also provided gas cards to Mona, who lives in Coatsburg, to help with transportation as she traveled to and from her parents’ home twice a day.
“It was just wonderful,” Bonnie said of the generosity of the Blessing Foundation, and of the overall care and compassion they received from Blessing Hospice during Ron’s final days.
Please consider a gift to the Blessing Foundation. You can designate it to the fund of your choice, including to the Hope Project, so more families like the Milberts can share meaningful moments, cherish memories, and be comforted by the hope those moments and memories provide.
What is the Blessing Foundation?
Since 1983, the Blessing Foundation has been giving back to the community that has given so much to all of us. The charitable foundation distribute grants, scholarships and financial assistance to individuals and families to help them on their healthcare journeys.
For more information about the Blessing Foundation or to discuss a donation or gift, call (217) 223-8400, ext. 4800, or email us at BlessingFoundation@blessinghealth.org
