OP_090116

4 | September 1, 2016 | The orland park prairie News
opprairie.com
Paid advertisement
Hilton’s ear
Adapting to New
Hearing Aids
Hearing aid technology and a
skilled hearing specialist are
very important to achieving
good hearing, but there are
important steps the client
can do to get the best results
from new hearing aids.
Good Fit
Understand there may be
some sensitivity as your ears
become familiar with your
hearing instrument.
Patience and Practice
There will be a short adjustment
period in which you
will need to become reacquainted
to the new sounds
you’re hearing.
Hear Better Faster
Speed up your acclimation
process by doing hearing
skills training exercises.
Taking Care
It is important to clean and
keep your hearing instrument
properly maintained.
The Right Attitude
Your positive attitude
and effort to this process will
enhance your experience to
better hearing.
Hilton Hearing
Center Can Help.
Call us at
708 532-9705
Reach 96,000 Readers
Each Week in the Classifieds!
708.326.9170
www.22ndcenturymedia.com
Orland Parker raising her bar on volunteer efforts
Recent Sandburg
grad has eyes set
on Thailand wildlife
conservation
Ryan Wallace
Freelance Reporter
Katie Manning does not
recall how old she was when
she heard the call to get involved
with humanitarian
and animal preservation efforts,
but she will never forget
the moment.
For her, it can all be traced
back to a letter she received
from world-renowned wildlife
conservationist Jane
Goodall.
“My sister had written a
letter to her, and Jane Goodall
actually wrote back,”
Manning said. “She told
me to follow my dreams
and make an impact on the
world.”
Those words stuck with
the now 18-year-old Orland
Park native, who is in the
midst of raising funds for
her biggest volunteer effort
to date.
The 2016 Sandburg High
graduate is raising money
for a wildlife conservation
internship in Thailand next
summer, where she is to help
elephants mistreated by the
tourism industry get reintroduced
into the wild. She also
is to teach English to local
children in the city of Chiang
Mai.
The six-week program is
one of many organized by
Global Vision International.
GVI is social enterprise that
has run volunteer and international
education programs
since 1998.
Manning’s goal is to raise
$7,000, which will cover
airfare, the cost of the program
and day-to-day expenditures.
Manning came across
GVI after looking into a
similar program last summer
in Ecuador. She received a
scholarship to help abused
animals rehabilitate at a
sanctuary, but her parents
thought she was too young.
“I was kind of upset about
it,” Manning said with a
chuckle. “But I just volunteered
around here, and then
I came across this Thailand
program.
“I’ve always loved elephants.
They are my favorite
animal, because they’re so
mentally and socially interesting.
Plus, I get to teach
English.”
Manning said she wanted
to start as early as she could
with the fundraising efforts,
because this is an opportunity
too good to pass up.
“I just love being able to
be able make a change and
make a difference,” she said.
“I volunteer because you not
only help others but you help
yourself, too.”
Where it all began
Manning said she did not
have a mentor and was never
guided into volunteering; it
was something she discovered
on her own.
One of her first fundraising
efforts came in junior
high, just after a tsunami
struck in Japan.
“I asked the principal if
we could sell suckers to help
the children who were left
without homes and clothing,”
Manning said. “We got
to do that, and I made sure to
give the credit to the student
council.”
An animal lover for most
of her life, Manning began
volunteering the summer
after her eighth-grade year
at The Children’s Farm at
the Center in Palos Heights,
which she did for five years.
She also volunteered at
camps at the Lake Katherine
Nature Center and Botanic
Gardens, which help youths
connect with nature and how
they can do their part to sustain
it.
She also has raised money
for sick children, was twice
Christmas comes early for children and teens fighting cancer
Submitted by Treasure Chest
Foundation
Divine Providence Church in
Westchester celebrated the spirit
of giving during its 11th annual
Christmas in July toy drive to
benefit the Pediatric Oncology
Treasure Chest Foundation.
Parishioners collected more
than 1,200 toys, gifts for teens,
$110 in gift cards and $100 in
cash to help children and teens
fighting cancer.
The not-for-profit Treasure
Chest Foundation now supports
more than 9,300 children and
teens each month who are diagnosed
with cancer by providing
a toy or gift card in 49 hospitals
nationwide. Nowhere else in
the nation does such a program
exist. Treasure Chest Foundation
CEO and Founder Colleen
Kisel founded the organization
in 1996 after her then 7-yearold
son Martin had been diagnosed
with leukemia in 1993.
Kisel discovered that giving her
son a toy after each procedure
provided a calming distraction
from his pain. Martin recently
celebrated his 23rd anniversary
of remission from the disease
earlier this year.
If you would like further information
about the Treasure Chest
Foundation, contact Kisel at
(708) 687-8697 or visit the foundation’s
web site at www.treasu
rechest.org.
honored with the Youth Service
Medal of Honor from
Cook County Sheriff’s Office
for doing 100 hours of
community service in a year
and, in her senior year at
Sandburg, she helped organize
the first Mental Health
Awareness Week there.
Manning said these types
of efforts have allowed her
to forge deeper connections
with people and environments.
“Being selfless and volunteering
really connects you
with people from different
cultures,” she said. “Anything
I can do that brings
about change and/or gives
people or animals a chance
at a good life, I would love
to do it.”
Getting there
Manning is set to embark
on her undergrad studies at
Williams College in Williamstown,
Massachusetts.
She chose the small liberal
arts school because of its
environmental programs
and their ties to economic
and social issues. The school
also aligns with her other
passions — poetry, drawing
and playing the violin.
After school, she said she
would like to continue her
self-motivated efforts as
member of the Peace Corps.
Before she gets there,
Manning is concentrating on
how she will continue her
fundraising efforts for Thailand.
She already has raised
$1,200, mostly through the
sales of chocolates outside
of a local Walgreens and
just talking to people about
the program. She said she
will have to make a payment
of $1,500 by the end of the
December to secure a spot,
with the remainder due in
the spring.
There are two sessions for
the program, with one starting
June 24 and the other
July 22. Manning is targeting
the earlier program.
Donations can be made
online at www.volunteerfor
ever.com/volunteer_profile/
hopeloveearth, and Manning
is to provide updates on
her efforts on her fundrais
ing Facebook page, www.
facebook.com/katie.man
ning.14019.
Manning said she is not
going to waste time restarting
her campaign in Massachusetts.
“I plan on talking to environmental
science professors
and find out ways to
raise money in town and ask
for help in setting up events
for my fundraising,” she
said.
Divine Providence Church parishioners (left
to right) Eileen Gorski, Kay O’Neill, Norberg
Kubala, Carol Kubala, Lee Bence and Don
Bence display some of the toys and gifts
donated by their parish to the Treasure Chest
Foundation’s Orland Park warehouse.
Photo submitted