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Grace's Wish
Letters to be sent to Oprah
Friday October 3, 2003 Natalie Miller
Oprah will be receiving a pile of mail from Ontario
next week. OMNI's Administrative Assistant Marie Murphy will send
off the approximately 500 letters she has received so far from people
supporting Grace's
Wish.
Grace Patterson, a Pleasant Meadow Manor resident, dropped
a wish into the Norwood home's wooden well in late August, requesting
to meet the
popular talk-show host, Oprah Winfrey.
"I just like her show," said Grace in an
earlier interview with the OMNIway.
"She has a lot of different people and it's
usually pretty good." When the Oprah show is on, Grace stays in her
room, fixed
on her television.
Pleasant Meadow Life Enrichment Supervisor Chris Charlebois initially
emailed Grace's Wish to Oprah at the end of August. She did get confirmation
the email had been received by the show, but did not hear back as
to
whether Grace's request could be arranged. Chris says it is possible
for OMNI to send Grace to Chicago where the show is taped.
After home office learned of Grace's Wish, Marie launched a poster
and letter-writing campaign. Hundreds of people in the Norwood area
placed their signatures on the form letters to be sent to the show.
The home
also held a community corn roast recently which attracted about 150
people
and generated the same number of signatures.
While most of the support for Grace's Wish has been local, Marie did
email the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune. She received an email
earlier this week from a woman in Arizona who became aware of Grace's
Wish.
She wrote: "Dear Oprah...Grace reminds me of
a dear friend of mine who was also in a nursing home, who passed
away. She was so wise
and had so much good advice for me when I was single raising two kids
alone. I
am sure Grace is full of wisdom too and perhaps from watching your
show so
faithfully. I too am a fan of your show, but perhaps not as faithful
at watching
as Grace. Please grant Grace's Wish to meet you."
Marie will include that email with the others she has so far received.
People can still express their support for Grace's Wish by writing
a letter
to Oprah care of marie@omni-way.com
For more information or to read more about Grace's Wish, click
here.
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