OLDS — This year’s edition of the annual Olds & District Hospice Society Tree of Remembrance ceremony will be a bit different.
The ceremony involves hanging a handcrafted Christmas decoration on the society's tree near the gazebo in Centennial Park or on a tree at home in memory of a loved one.
This year, those decorations were created by the local Threads of Kindness quilting group. They will be hung on the tree during this year’s ceremony, slated to occur Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.
In previous years, they've been made by high school students. Mary Smith, executive director of the Olds & District Hospice Society, says this year, the organization's client services committee wanted to try something a little different -- display quilted or fabric decorations, so they approached Threads of Kindness with that idea.
"We will likely ask the high school again next year," Smith said.
Members of Threads of Kindness say they began the project this past spring and finished it in mid-October. They estimate that more than 100 decorations were made.
“Threads of Kindness have supported us by giving quilts to our hospice clients for a number of years so our clients services committee reached out to the Threads of Kindness to see if they could do quilted decorations for us,” Smith said.
"We were very fortunate that they did the decorations for us. They’re just gorgeous this year and we are just so excited to have them for our Tree of Remembrance.”
Smith said it’s still uncertain exactly how the Tree of Remembrance ceremony will be held this year, due to COVID-19 and what restrictions might be in place at that time.
“Depending on COVID restrictions, we will either gather in-person or have a part that’s in-person and online, so we are just kind of waiting to see those restrictions look like,” Smith said.
People can purchase the decorations in person by phoning the Olds & District Hospice Society office ahead of time at 403-586-9992 to set up a time to come in. Please visit the link below to purchase the decorations.
