Glen Ellyn rummage sale to benefit two nonprofit groups

Tom Mayer can count a few big milestones in his life.

His wedding day, of course. The births of his three children. And the opening of the Mary Queen of Heaven Medical Center in Uganda.

"It's just joy - absolute joy," the Glen Ellyn dad said of the day he and other volunteers turned over the keys of the clinic to a rural community of about 35,000.

Almost a year after that celebration, a nonprofit group that raised money for the construction of the medical center continues to support its operations.

"There's so many needs out there," said Mayer, board president of the Glen Ellyn-based Friends of Shalom for Uganda.

Prime among them is connecting the building to running water and electricity. Funds raised by a rummage sale at St. Petronille Church in Glen Ellyn on Saturday, June 11, will help finance that project.

The proceeds also will benefit another nonprofit's mission in the Philippines.

Last year, nearly 1,500 patients were served at the medical center, Mayer said. And about 50 percent of the treatment addressed malaria.

Staff members also offer health education and hope to begin hosting after-school programs.

Mayer's involvement began in 2012 when he met Father Alfred Tumwesigye during a Cursillo weekend, a Catholic retreat.

Then studying toward his master's degree in Chicago, Tumwesigye asked Mayer, who works for a Chicago construction company, if he would mind taking a look at some plans for a clinic in his home district of Ntungamo in southwestern Uganda.

Mayer happily obliged and took that request a few steps further. He helped set up a board of directors and began fundraising to turn those plans into reality.

"I'm so glad I did," he said.