From Deseret News archives:

Home makeover thrills Orem's Thill family

Published: Sunday, April 13, 2008 1:02 a.m. MDT
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"When Addison came into care with the Thills, it was the best thing that ever happened to me," Chadwick said. "If it wasn't for them being so supportive, I wouldn't have my daughter back. They were non-judgmental and they listened to me. They went above and beyond what they had to do."

Cayce Thill attended all of Chadwick's court cases, picked Chadwick up so she could visit her daughter and took Addison to all of her doctor's appointments.

Chadwick credits the Thills with her daughter's progress. Addison, now 19 months old, is on track developmentally.

The Thills' devotion to foster children in Utah doesn't stop there.

Four years ago, John Thill created a retreat for foster families at Aspen Grove, where he works as a chef. The camp has allowed families to bond and helped inspire couples to renew their foster parent licenses. Zions Bank, ABC 4 News and "Oprah's Big Give" donated $10,000 to the retreat.

The Thills' hard work is what made the Utah Foster Care Foundation nominate the family to be the recipients of "Oprah's Big Give."

"They're just such a wonderful family," Deborah Lindner, the director of the foundation, said. "They have been willing to do what we ask foster families to do: reunite children with their biological parents; adopt children."

The Thills' work has touched their own children's lives in a profound way.

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"I think my parents really deserves this," Josh Thill, 14, said. "I was amazed when I saw the house. It's just amazing because everyone is so happy."


E-mail: lriddle@desnews.com

Recent comments

If anyone deserves this, John and Cayce do. They will be at the head...

Frank | April 15, 2008 at 11:30 a.m.

Image

Jonathan Thill climbs on some new playground equipment that was installed as part of the $200,000 renovation of his family's home and yard in Orem.

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