Nursing Home Volunteer Creates Recycled Christmas Decorations for Residents

By Sarah Dulinsky, Sentinel Tribute 

December 24, 2008

The reason for the season is in the star.

"Almost every decoration I made has a star placed somewhere on it so the residents can remember why we celebrate Christmas," Shirley Bedwell said.

Bedwell, a volunteer at Southern Hills Care Intiatives, made more than 70 completed recycled decorations for the residents at the nursing home. Most of the items she picked up from an auction or a thrift store. With a little bit of creativity, she sprung each and every one of them back to life.

Most of the decorations were made for a specific person. One resident, she explained, loves John Wayne. So Bedwell decorated a quarter inch foam board shaped like a Christmas tree with green felt and spruced it up with a gold bead to outline the tree's frame. She also glued miniature metallic colored ornaments such as a Christmas cactus, a cowboy boot, and a cowboy Santa to the tree and topped it off with a huge heart in the middle.

"I put the heart here because the man I am giving it to has a huge heart, and also his last name is Hart," she said.

At the new facility, no one is allowed to hang items on the wall without the help of the maintenance crew, so Bedwell took this into consideration while she made her ornaments.

"I knew maintenance would be extremely busy with a new building to take care of," she said. "So I created each decoration so they could be placed on a desk or table."

With the cowboy ornament, she removed the glass from an old picture frame and glued it on the back of the ornament. Bedwell said this makes the ornaments extremely sturdy so they could be placed anywhere without tipping over.

Bedwell said she thought of the idea to make the ornaments one day when she had down time.

"I was sitting around thinking of how I could help others and this idea came to mind," Bedwell said.

She started the project in October and finished just in time for Christmas.

Bedwell said she wanted the residents to know that someone was thinking about them and maybe brighten someone's day.

"There are so many people who don't have family close by. I wanted to make them feel like someone is there for them, especially at Christmas," she said.

She certainly did brighten the day of more than a few of the residents.

Esther Baker, a resident who still plays the violin every Sunday, received a decoration similar to the John Wayne lover's decoration, except her foam-felt Christmas tree was decorated with violins.

"This is certainly one of a kind," Baker said. "It is so nice of Shirley to do this. I have never seen anything like it."

Bedwell had a really special gift for Dorothy “Dot” Elliot.

"When I found this decoration, it was only a sleigh and a reindeer," Bedwell said. "I filled the sleigh with beautiful pieces of things I thought Dot would like because she is a beautiful lady."

Elliott was extremely pleased when she received her gift.

"This is so gorgeous," she said. "This gift is really special because I know Shirley so well and how generous she is. We always know how to laugh and have a good time and she knows how to put a smile on my face."

Bedwell said she is happy to do something for someone else at this time of year.

"I feel privilaged to do this and I hope to continue this tradition.

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