Special to the Register by Father Kenneth Borowiak
WAVERLY (SNR) - Lori Hostert was a special needs child born May 16, 1961 in Atkinson, Neb. She died Jan. 3, 2010 surrounded by her family.
For nearly 50 years her life was marked by the love and dedication of her family and the struggle for her needs to be met academically, socially and humanly.
The recognition of the desires and wants of a special needs child and the resources available to meet those needs - especially in rural Nebraska - were quite different just 50 years ago. The disabled, those physically and mentally challenged, often times were limited to public school systems which simply did not have the personnel and educational resources to meet their needs.
Lori received speech therapy at the local public school in Butte, but did not receive educational services to meet her other needs. At the age of 16 she began attending Region IV services in O’Neill, which was 40 miles from her home of Butte. Lori lived in a group home staffed by Region IV but her parents drove every Friday to O’Neill to bring her home and then drove her back to O’Neill every Monday.
At the time Lori was born, the Diocese of Lincoln established Villa Marie Home and School for Exceptional Children in rural Waverly. The school, staffed for 60 years by the Marian Sisters of the Diocese of Lincoln provides educational opportunities in a home setting for the educable mentally challenged, and teaches the students skills which allow them to live semi-independently and to have meaningful work in their lives.
The Nebraska state Knights of Columbus has supported intellectual disabilities as one of their outreaches since they were chartered in 1905.
Each year the wife of the State Deputy of the Knights of Columbus in Nebraska chooses a project to focus on during the year for the wives of Knights of Columbus. This year’s state deputy is Matt Richardson. His wife Connie is a sister to Lori Hostert.
Connie contacted Villa Marie in the fall of 2021 and asked what the home and school’s needs were. Connie called her endeavor “Project Lori” after her sister.
During Lori’s life, her parents would provide gifts to all of the residents of Lori’s group home in O’Neill and Connie wanted to honor her sister’s memory by doing the same for the students of Villa Marie.
Connie sent out letters to all of the Knights of Columbus Councils throughout the state explaining her project and asking for their financial support. There are 26,347 Knights of Columbus in 174 councils in Nebraska.
Connie said, “The response was overwhelming!”
Through Project Lori the Knights were able to provide each student at Villa Marie with Christmas gifts that included a handmade fleece blanket, slippers, hat and gloves, Pop-It, candy, books and a “Bailey Box” filled with toys and candy which was purchased by the Knights of Columbus from Bailey Graham, a young woman with Down Syndrome.
Connie and her husband Matt, along with several other Nebraska Knights state officers and their wives and families along with state chaplain Father Justin Fulton, delivered the gifts to Villa Marie Dec. 20.
Squeals of excitement could not be contained as each of the students opened their personalized gifts.
Through the generosity of the Knights of Columbus, Connie is additionally able to provide numerous gifts for the entire school to enjoy.
The Knights also gifted a large-screen Smart TV to Villa Marie as well as funds for a subscription to Disney Plus. They also provided snacks and soft drinks for classroom snacks and movie nights for the remainder of the school year, as well as gift cards.
