Mary Kanak: When Sending Care Packages Creates a Circle of Service

Care Packages do more than deliver comfort—they create connections. And sometimes those connections come full circle, uniting friends in service in ways only God could orchestrate. That was the case for former co-workers and long-time friends Mary Kanak, 66, and Terry Waszak, 69.

Mary first met Terry in 1984 when she worked as a secretary at the Maywood-based United Stationers Supply Company—back in the days of typewriters and carbon paper. Terry was one of Mary’s supervisors, and over time their professional relationship grew into a lasting friendship based on shared interests. “We were both lifelong Cubs fans and we share the same faith,” Mary said.

Fast forward to 2015, when Mary was working at the company’s branch office in Carol Stream. Her manager asked her to lead the company’s Charity Foundation. She quickly formed a committee that met monthly to discuss causes closest to their hearts. During one meeting, a colleague shared about her time volunteering at Phil’s Friends. Inspired, Mary coordinated a Saturday morning volunteer event when she and a large group of coworkers spent time coloring Cards of Hope, decorating and assembling Care Packages for cancer patients, and presenting a donation of $5,000 to support the ministry.

Over the years, Mary has taken friends and family to volunteer at Phil’s Friends, as well. The theme of hope resonates strongly with her, she said, and she is eager to help promote awareness of the organization.

In 2018, Mary began working at ComEd, a company known for its strong commitment to giving back to the community through volunteerism. Mary suggested Phil’s Friends as a place where employees could volunteer, which they have done at the Addison Hope Center, as well as supporting the mission with both in-kind and monetary donations.

Fast forward (again) to late fall 2023. While watching a Cubs game, Mary texted Terry to ask if he and his wife would like to attend a game with her and her husband, Keith. Terry replied that he could not, that he had recently been diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and needed to start treatments.

“It was a very emotional time for me,” Terry recalled of that time. “I’d never been sick before.”

Mary knew just what to do to lift Terry’s spirits: she decorated and assembled a special baseball-themed Care Package for him. Keith came with her that day to assemble a Care Package for a good friend of his, who was also fighting cancer.

A week later, Mary called to see if Terry had received the Care Package. He said yes. But it wasn’t the one Mary had sent him. Someone else had sent him one, too.

Mary immediately called Phil’s Friends to find out what had happened to the special box she’d created for Terry. It hadn’t shipped yet, she was told. When Steve Zielke, the Wheaton Hope  Center Manager, heard, he made the decision to deliver the box personally to Terry’s house in Arlington Heights—some 40 minutes away.

“I couldn’t believe someone thought to do that,” Terry said of Steve’s personal mission. “It was a big surprise. It really did lift my spirits. It came at the right time—if there ever is a right time!”

Terry loved his baseball-themed package, especially the Bible. “I read it every morning,” he said. “I never really picked up the Bible until I got ill. Now it’s become a discipline.”

Terry was declared to be in remission in May 2024, although he still experiences certain side effects. “God obviously had a big part in this,” he said.

Mary, now retired, keeps in touch with her ComEd friends who volunteered with Phil’s Friends. She often sends them texts about specific Care Packages needs. “The responses are so heartwarming,” she said. “They bring me port pillows they have sewn, homemade blankets, puzzle books, playing cards, and journals. After volunteering there with me, one of my sweet friends donated a whole truckload of Bibles and had them delivered directly to Addison.”

In December 2025, Mary invited Terry and his wife to join her in volunteering at the Addison Hope Center. “I was very moved by all those boxes piled up against the wall,” Terry said of the assembled boxes that were stacked to the ceiling. “I know they will bring hope and joy to [the recipients],” he said. This coming from experience!

Joy is something Mary loves to share. “I believe in serving, giving back, giving hope, and sharing the love of Jesus with the world one Care Package and Card of Hope at a time,” she said.