Each year, the hospice ornament takes a different form with the 2022 version shaped as the very popular “Tree of Life.
Scotland Regional Hospice typically begins its end of the year fundraiser in November during National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, but due the overwhelming success of the event over the past two years, the organization’s leaders decided to begin the newly adopted Christmas ornament fundraiser in late September with hundreds being sold throughout October.
“The last two years, we have sold out weeks before we intended the fundraiser to end,” explained Bunny Hasty, Scotland Regional Hospice volunteer coordinator. “This year, we will have more ornaments available for purchase so we wanted to start earlier to make sure that everyone who wants one can get one.”
Hasty says that there are plenty left at the moment but encourages anyone who wants to purchase ornaments to get them early as they will likely disappear during November’s National Hospice and Palliative Month observance.
For 35 years, Scotland Regional Hospice’s Tree of Remembrance was an annual holiday tradition in Laurinburg. In 2020, the month-long fundraiser, which took place each year in Carlie C’s IGA allowing customers to hang memorial and honorarium paper angels on a live tree inside of the store, was cancelled due to COVID-19 safety measures. In lieu of the Tree of Remembrance, Scotland Regional Hospice opted to sell keepsake ornaments to take home or to give as gifts to others. The new fundraiser was such a success that Scotland Regional Hospice decided to continue the ornament sale as their end-of-the-year fundraiser.
Each year, the hospice ornament takes a different form with the 2022 version shaped as the very popular “Tree of Life.” The “Tree of Life” is often used as a symbol of connection between the living and loved ones lost with its roots planted deep into the earth, but its branches reaching out to the heavens. This makes the “Tree of Life” a perfect companion of the hospice philosophy.
Hospice volunteers at Scotland Regional Hospice have been working hard throughout the summer to get the ornaments ready to sell. The painted wooden ornaments are 3.5 inches round and the volunteers have packaged and decorated over 1,000 individual ornaments by hand making them each unique in some way. The bows and ribbons are hand-tied, the greenery is hand-painted, the ornaments and cards are hand packaged, and the hundreds of tiny pinecones used in the decorating were even picked up off of the ground, not purchased. A lot of love went into each and every one.
“It has taken the collaboration of many of our volunteers to make this fundraiser happen,” shared Hasty. “They have taken ribbon home to hand-tie bows, they have packaged ornaments at our office, and now they will get to work selling them. Although our Christmas fundraiser has changed forms over the years, our amazing volunteers have been the backbone of all of our fundraising, and we can’t thank them enough.”
The angel ornaments are $10 each and all proceeds benefit end-of-life care for families in our community. To purchase an angel, call 910-276-7176 or you can order online at www.scotlandhospice.com.