FEATURE
Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital Chapel Named
for
Herbert and Mary Shainberg
By Kini Kedigh Plumlee I Photos Larry Kuzniewski
For more than two decades, Mary Shainberg and her late
husband, Herbert, of blessed memory, have been among Memphis’s leading patrons
who champion children. “Herbert and I have always felt that children are our
future,” Mary says. “There is nothing that pleases me more than to see that the
fruit of our giving is making a difference in the lives of children.”
In fact, it was Herbert’s love for children that Mary continues to honor, most recently with her generous support of Le Bonheur Children’s capital campaign to build a new hospital.
Mary, who is a member of Temple Israel synagogue, designated her contribution to the new Le Bonheur for The Herbert and Mary Shainberg Chapel, a 65-seat sanctuary for the spiritual healing of Le Bonheur families. A consecration ceremony for the hospital was held on the west lawn of the new facility on June 14. Immediately following the public event Rabbi Micah Greenstein of Temple Israel led a special blessing before placing a mezuzah inside the doorframe of the chapel.
Along with Rabbi Greenstein, other clergy participating in the consecration and mezuzah blessing included Rev. Corey Johnson, Elder Oliver Williams and Rev. Ann Phillips of Le Bonheur’s Spiritual Care Team, and the Rev. Gary Gunderson, senior vice president for Health & Welfare Ministries at Methodist Healthcare. Family members and friends attending both events included Cindy Shainberg, Paul and Suzanne Lazarov, Harriet Stern, Craig, Debbie and Lindsey Lazarov, Jill and Samantha Notowich, Fred and Sally Kesselman, Mildred Schwartz, Fran Kaufman, Margie Kerstine, Dr. Frederick and Judy Palmer and Barrie Weiser.
“Why is this chapel different than all other chapels?” Rabbi Greenstein asked family and friends who gathered in the Shainberg Chapel for the blessing. “This is a healing space for a healing center, and yet it is still different from all other healing centers because families will enter this space to pray for their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It is during life’s most vulnerable moments when we offer our most heartfelt prayers. You never stop praying for your children, and the Shainberg Chapel will be the heartbeat of prayer for thousands of families who receive care there.”
Le Bonheur Children’s philosophy of family centered care recognizes that the healing of mind, body and spirit are interrelated. “Mary recognizes the need for faith in healing,” Rev. Johnson said. “The Shainberg Chapel enables Le Bonheur to meet the needs of our patients, their families and our associates, regardless of where they are on their spiritual journey. All are invited to this space.
“The Shainberg Chapel is the beginning of how we help and heal the community of which we are a part,” he added.
For Mary, who attended the groundbreaking for the hospital in 2008, watching the children digging the ground for their new hospital was the inspiration for her gift.
“Prayer is a great healer. I’ve believed this all my life,” Mary says. “When you are in a hospital with a sick child it is important to have a comfortable, quiet place to go to talk to the healer. My Temple is so important to me, and spirituality is as much a part of the healing process as the doctors, medicines and technology. I wanted to give Le Bonheur’s families a place to meditate and pray. Herbert believed that good health care for children ensures a wholesome and healthy future for all of our community for generations to come. He served on the executive board for the hospital. If he were here today, he would have wanted to be a part of this first-class hospital that serves as a beacon of hope for families from across the world.”
With a thoughtful pause, Mary added that she could feel Herbert’s presence during the Chapel dedication and said, “This Chapel is a continuation of his mission to help heal children. I can’t imagine what we would do without Le Bonheur.”
The Shainberg Legacy
Many worthy organizations have been recipients of Mary and Herbert’s unselfish support through the years. Herbert was a founding father of the Jewish Community Center and Mary is a volunteer at Temple Israel and the Memphis Jewish Home. Other local recipients of the Shainberg legacy include the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Jewish Foundation of Memphis, Memphis Jewish Federation, Jewish Family Services of Memphis, Church Health Center of Memphis, Theatre Memphis, Opera Memphis, Memphis Symphony and cancer research.
A respected businessman, Herbert served on the Le Bonheur Board of Directors (1981-1985) and on several hospital committees during his lifetime. He was president and chairman of the Shainberg Company, which operated 82 retail stores under the name of Shainberg’s and Kent’s.
In 1982, Herbert set the tenor for his life with the establishment of an endowed professorship in developmental pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Le Bonheur is the teaching site for the UTHSC Department of Pediatrics. In 1996, 11 years after his death, Mary established the Herbert and Mary Shainberg Neuroscience Research Fund at Le Bonheur. Through this fund and other gifts, Mary continues to carry forward Herbert’s mission — to help children stricken with neurological problems and physical disabilities.
“Herbert believed in doing for children, and this fund was a natural outgrowth of his efforts,” Mary says. “He wanted to improve the quality of a child’s life. He believed that tackling a problem in the early stages could give a child an excellent chance at living a normal life.”
The Herbert and Mary Shainberg Fund supports Le Bonheur’s Neuroscience Institute, which is renowned as the largest pediatric surgical brain tumor program in the United States and is also designated a Level IV Epilepsy Center, ranking it among the top epilepsy centers in the country.
Kini Kedigh Plumlee is commuications specialist for the Le Bonheur Foundation and editor of the award-winning Le Bonheur magazine.
