By Maria Henneberry

BLOOMINGTON – Buy an ornament in memory of a lost loved one and help build a new chapel that can hold more people at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington.

The Tree of Lights Auxiliary fundraising effort has turned into a $10,000 gift for the OSF Saint Joseph Foundation for it’s chapel project.

Auxiliary members raised the money through the winter months by selling $20 ornaments. The Auxiliary has been raising money for 31 years and chose the chapel project to get the money this year. They plan to do the same thing this winter and raise even more money for the same project.

OSF Saint Joseph already has a chapel, but Auxiliary member Janice Castleman said it’s small and tucked in the center of the facility. This will be larger and easier to find.

“Everybody has a time in their life where they are grateful, thankful for something or maybe in need or maybe just need a minute of private time,” Castleman said. “This is going to be a larger chapel. It will be at a convenient location, right by the entrance, right by the emergency room.”

The foundation is less than $20,000 from the $150,000 they need to break ground. At that point, they’ll know when it will be finished.

Maria Henneberry can be reached at [email protected].