Community invited to Butterfly Release
May 02, 2025
HSHS Home Care invites community members to join them for butterfly release ceremonies at locations throughout central Illinois at these Hospital Sisters Health System hospitals:
Family and friends are invited to celebrate and remember the life of a loved one who has passed. The ceremonies will include the reading of the names of those being honored in addition to the butterfly release.
Valerie Engelbart, Bereavement Services Supervisor for HSHS Home Care, said, “These butterfly release ceremonies provide a special time for families in our communities to honor their loved ones. The butterfly represents the transformation of the spirit as our loved ones transition from this life. As we release butterflies together, we celebrate the lives that have touched our hearts and find comfort in our shared experiences of love and loss.”
In addition to attending to honor a loved one, you are invited to personally release a butterfly for your loved one by reserving a butterfly for $15 to be paid prior to the ceremony. To purchase a butterfly and/or RSVP for the ceremony, contact Engelbart by calling or texting 217-685-0702 or emailing [email protected].
You may also reserve a butterfly online by visiting giving.hshs.org/sae/donate and following these steps:
- HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital, Effingham
Thursday, May 15 at 5:30 p.m. in the Healing Garden. - HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital, Decatur
Tuesday, May 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the Cancer Center Garden. - HSHS St. Francis Hospital, Litchfield
Wednesday, May 28 at 5:30 p.m. in the circle drive by St. Francis statue. - HSHS Good Shepherd Hospital, Shelbyville
Thursday, May 29 at 4 p.m. in the Healing Garden (east side of hospital) - HSHS St. John’s Hospital, Springfield
Thursday, June 5 at 5:30 p.m., Pavilion Garden
Family and friends are invited to celebrate and remember the life of a loved one who has passed. The ceremonies will include the reading of the names of those being honored in addition to the butterfly release.
Valerie Engelbart, Bereavement Services Supervisor for HSHS Home Care, said, “These butterfly release ceremonies provide a special time for families in our communities to honor their loved ones. The butterfly represents the transformation of the spirit as our loved ones transition from this life. As we release butterflies together, we celebrate the lives that have touched our hearts and find comfort in our shared experiences of love and loss.”
In addition to attending to honor a loved one, you are invited to personally release a butterfly for your loved one by reserving a butterfly for $15 to be paid prior to the ceremony. To purchase a butterfly and/or RSVP for the ceremony, contact Engelbart by calling or texting 217-685-0702 or emailing [email protected].
You may also reserve a butterfly online by visiting giving.hshs.org/sae/donate and following these steps:
- Select “Hospice/Everlasting Memories/Butterfly Release” under the Designation section.
- Select “This gift is in honor, memory or support of someone” under the Tribute Gift section and fill in the name of your loved one.
Media Contact
Mary Massingale
System Manager, Communications & Public Relations