Sun City Woodchuck member Bill Ziletti was contacted in August, 2016 by Justin Searles (chaplain at the new Centegra Huntley Hospital) to see if the Woodchucks would be interested in building prayer boxes for the new hospital. Bill met with Justin to discuss the design and review the pictures of the current boxes.
Bill then contacted Ed Cuttle (president of Woodchucks) and asked if the club would be interested in building 6 boxes for the new hospital. Ed presented the request to the board members; everyone on the Woodchucks Board agreed it would be a great community project.
Woodchuck member Bill Ziletti (second from left) and other Woodchuck members after presenting the boxes to Centegra Chaplain Justin Searles (middle left) and Supervisor of Chaplains Dena Battaglia. (Photos provided)
Bill presented the project through Al LaPelusa, Woodchucks Special Projects Officer, at the September monthly meeting and asked for volunteers. Bob Duke, Jim Jiran, and John Sterling stepped up and volunteered to work on the boxes. Bill then spoke to a friend (Kurt Herman) at Springbrook Community Church about the Black Oak wood the team needed. Kurt provided the wood needed.
Bill, Bob, Jim, and John met in September to discuss the project. They used a jewelry box John Sterling had built to use as a starting point for the design. After reviewing all the requirements by the hospital chaplain, the team came up with the final design.
The basic box sides were dovetailed and glued together. The top was designed with inlays of Oak and Black Walnut woods. This characteristic was designed to highlight the openings for both prayer card storage and deposit of the prayer cards. A door was cut from the back piece to allow access to the prayer cards that had been deposited by the individual requesting a specific prayer. All boxes were finished using Danish oil.
The completed boxes were delivered to the hospital on December 7, 2016 and presented to Dena Battaglia, Supervisor of Chaplains and Pastoral Care at the Centegra Huntley hospital, and Justin Searles, Chaplin.
