SPRUCE VIEW - Since 1949 the unique interlocking brick toys made by LEGO have put smiles on the faces of millions of children.
And 67 years later, young LEGO Club members at the Spruce View Community Library have created their own special smiles by making hundreds of Christmas LEGO decorations. They were placed on a special LEGO Tree, one of 65 entered into this year's Festival of Trees in Red Deer.
The trees were then sold in a silent auction last week, with proceeds going towards the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation's campaign to raise up to $800,000 for Phase 2 of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre's Medical Specialty Clinic (MSC), which will see the addition of Central Alberta's first Parkinson's Clinic.
“I think the kids realize that this is not just for them, and that it is for someone else, and that it is going somewhere,” said library manager Paddy Birkeland. “It (LEGO Tree) may end up in someone's home, and I think that made them very happy that they were doing something for someone else.
“And they were excited about all these people that were going to see the tree and the things they made,” she added.
Alaine Martin, events manager for the foundation, which sponsors the Festival of Trees, said last Friday she has heard many positive comments about the Spruce View LEGO Tree.
“It's very cool, the design and everything. It's always so neat because all of our designers and donors have such a different perspective on everything they do, so seeing all the different ideas come through for us is really, really cool.”
Spruce View's community library runs its LEGO program for children six and over every second Wednesday of the month and it attracts an average of 50 children.
Birkeland said Cara Kreil, secretary at Spruce View School, came up with the LEGO Tree idea, noting it would be a nice gesture to support a worthy cause during this holiday season.
“The kids came and made the ornaments out of LEGO and she took them all and put them on the tree,” said Birkeland, adding the library donated the LEGO for the tree project.
“We had a whole bunch of patterns that we printed off and they just took a pattern, took a LEGO and brought it back to us. They were probably making two or three at a time,” she said, adding about 200 LEGO decorations -- which included poinsettias, wreaths, bells, snowflakes, candy canes and Santa hats -- were ultimately made for the tree.
“Someone will take it (tree) home, as in Innisfail a few years ago when someone bought one of the trees and donated it to the public library.”
Paddy Birkeland, manager of the Spruce View Community Library
"It (LEGO Tree) may end up in someone's home, and I think that made them very happy that they were doing something for someone else."
