My grandfather always made these Christmas projects. The first one he made was in the 50s, before there were any grandchildren. It was all part of our family tradition. When his eyesight got too bad to keep it up, I kind of took over, and I’ve been making projects ever since.
I’ve been able to display a lot of my creations in our yard for Christmas. One of my first decorations on Seabury Avenue, where we live, was a sidewalk garland made from lights and stakes. In 2011, I was setting them up and looking up and down the sidewalk thinking, wow, if I can get some other neighbors to do this, it would look pretty neat.
And it just kind of grew from there. I knocked on some doors, and then I knocked on some more doors, and that first year we had about 60+ of the 70 houses on the street decorating their yards for the holidays. We started getting some foot traffic - people started visiting the street to see the lights, and my wife Diane suggested we make some hot chocolate to pass out. People would leave donations and we’d donate it to a community member who was having a hard year. One year, we collected over $1000, and we donated it to the Fairview Park Hunger Center. It’s gotten bigger and bigger in terms of more donations, so we’ve been able to donate to the Hunger Center, Meals on Wheels, and the senior center. We’ve given over $25,000 back to the community over the years just from donations.
You can’t make 70 houses do anything, you can only cheerlead and whatnot. It’s up to the people. We’ve done workshops at the Gemini Center to teach people how to make their own sidewalk garlands with lights and stakes. Anyone can do it, and I would be happy to share some ideas with you.
I’ve been able to display a lot of my creations in our yard for Christmas. One of my first decorations on Seabury Avenue, where we live, was a sidewalk garland made from lights and stakes. In 2011, I was setting them up and looking up and down the sidewalk thinking, wow, if I can get some other neighbors to do this, it would look pretty neat.
And it just kind of grew from there. I knocked on some doors, and then I knocked on some more doors, and that first year we had about 60+ of the 70 houses on the street decorating their yards for the holidays. We started getting some foot traffic - people started visiting the street to see the lights, and my wife Diane suggested we make some hot chocolate to pass out. People would leave donations and we’d donate it to a community member who was having a hard year. One year, we collected over $1000, and we donated it to the Fairview Park Hunger Center. It’s gotten bigger and bigger in terms of more donations, so we’ve been able to donate to the Hunger Center, Meals on Wheels, and the senior center. We’ve given over $25,000 back to the community over the years just from donations.
You can’t make 70 houses do anything, you can only cheerlead and whatnot. It’s up to the people. We’ve done workshops at the Gemini Center to teach people how to make their own sidewalk garlands with lights and stakes. Anyone can do it, and I would be happy to share some ideas with you.