{"id":26569,"date":"2020-05-21T14:47:06","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T18:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26569"},"modified":"2020-05-28T19:24:02","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T23:24:02","slug":"local-carvers-spread-comfort-in-uncertain-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/local-carvers-spread-comfort-in-uncertain-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Local carvers spread “comfort” in uncertain time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wood has an inner warmth when you hold it in your hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To some, it symbolizes strength. To others, it offers\nfuel. To artists, it is a source of nearly limitless possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For wood carvers at the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre and the\nAurora Cultural Centre, all of these things ring true; but, now left in their hands,\nsimple blocks of wood are being transformed into pieces designed to provide\ncomfort for bereaved individuals in Aurora, King and Richmond Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Led by Marlene Ash and Mel James, the carvers are using\nthis downtime to create \u201cComfort Birds\u201d, symbols of hope for members of Hope\nHouse Hospice\u2019s Comfort Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the present situation forced all programming to go\nvirtual, the Comfort Caf\u00e9 was a drop-in program hosted by Hope House (formerly\nHospice King Aurora) for men and women experiencing the death of a loved one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a program that provided great comfort to Marlene\nfollowing the passing of her husband and fellow carver, Fred, 15 months ago,\nand now Marlene has rallied her local wood carving community to help pay it\nforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea for Comfort Birds stemmed from one Fred and I\nhad done with the seniors years ago with Christmas bags with comfort birds for\nCobblestone Lodge,\u201d says Marlene of helping brighten the day for residents of\nthe retirement home at Yonge and Kennedy. \u201cWhen this pandemic hit so many\npeople, being shut in and lonely having lost their mates or someone close, I\nthought it would be a really nice idea to give them a Comfort Bird.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene took her idea to the Aurora Senior Wood Carving\nGroup, a group she and Fred helped found, as well as carvers Ms. Ash teaches at\nthe Cultural Centre, and both groups immediately took the idea to heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are the wind beneath my wings,\u201d says Ms. Ash. \u201cAll\nI did was put forth an idea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the idea, in turn, also posed a logistical challenge\nfor the Senior Wood Carvers as the tools that are particularly part of their\ntrade are behind the doors of the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre, which is presently\nclosed due to emergency orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Marlene asked if our group could make Comfort Birds\nduring this difficult period, it posed a challenge as our workshop was closed,\u201d\nsays Mel James, who now leads the Senior group. \u201cFortunately, several members\nhad band saws at home and were able to cut out many blanks from wood we were\nable to find. The wood was basswood, pine, cedar, butternut and poplar. These\nblanks were distributed to our members. We have been able to complete\napproximately 20 and there are more in production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe find carving a Comfort Bird therapeutic. They are of\nsimple design, so we are able to carve with the wood grain, work from memory\nand let the wood present itself to the carver. The grain the wood becomes the\ndominant feature as the shape of the bird is smooth and of limited definition.\nThe bird fits into your hand easily, it\u2019s smooth and can be slowly rotated in\nyour hand. This allows your mind to relax for a moment \u2013 and this helps you to\nrelax. It does become a companion over time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a sentiment shared by Marlene, who adds: \u201cWood is\na very warm thing to hold and I think creating something that gives someone\ncomfort and just something to hold gives you great comfort. Wood carving is\nsomething that comes from within you and you pass on that feeling of comfort to\nsomeone else. It shows people you are thinking of them, someone cares and is giving\nyou a gift \u2013 and that gives me a good feeling as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carving student Cindi Stewart also shares this feeling,\nadding that she sees the initiative spreading beyond Hope House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am talking to people. I am mentioning it to them, and\nI am finding basically everybody wants one,\u201d she says. \u201cEverybody needs some\nform of comfort right now, so they seem to be a popular item and it is just\nnice to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the carvers aren\u2019t able to\ngo around and deliver the birds in person. Instead, distribution is being\nhandled through Hope House, located on Industrial Parkway South, and their\nvolunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene packages each completed bird in brown paper bags\nwhich she then transforms with ribbons and cards into a nice gift bag for each\nrecipient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on how to become involved with the Comfort Birds program for Hope House Hospice, email Marlene Ash at fcash@rogers.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wood has an inner warmth when you hold it in your hands. To some, it symbolizes strength. To others, it offers fuel. To artists, it is a source of nearly limitless possibilities. For wood carvers at the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre and the Aurora Cultural Centre, all of these things ring true; but, now left in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/2020-05-21-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Ux","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 12:31:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}