Holiday baskets created with loving hands from social skills participants
By Ken Luchterhand
It was a joining of help, guidance and direction.
Three different organizations, three different leaders, there to offer Christmas spirit to celebrate the message of giving and caring.
Leaders from Vocational Rehabilitation for Native Americans (VRNA), Ho-Chunk Life Skills, The Ho-Chunk Family Court, and the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), invited their clients to make Christmas baskets, either to keep for themselves or to offer as presents to others. They met Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the VRNA office in Black River Falls.
VRNA Counselor Diane Hofsteadt, Life Skills Coordinator Gail Greendeer, Assistant Clerk of Court Shelly Wilkinson for the Ho-Chunk Family Wellness Court, and DVR Job Developer Kathy Leffingwell were present and invited their clients for the holiday gathering.
The baskets combined their creative talents with their love of giving.
“I’m making one for my grandmother Rose,” said Ashley Littlegeorge, who is assisted with the Life Skills Program. “She’s coming home from the hospital on Thursday after a long stay.”
The crafters started with wire baskets, lined them with colorful cloth, and then decorated them with bells, tinsel, garland, paper snowflakes, pine needles and beads.
Inside the baskets, items placed small-decorated jars of spices and seasonings, bath salts with fragrances, and candies.
For bath salts, participants mixed sea salt and Epsom salts, then added a liquid fragrance and placed them into a small jar. When used, the fragrance would be released to relax the person as a form of aromatherapy.
Fragrances included lemon, grapefruit, peppermint, lavender, orange, and frankincense.
Another project was making body heating bags, which were in a long tubular shapes, which worked well when wrapped around the neck and shoulders. The cloth tubes were filled with rice or corn, or a combination of both, then fragrances were added.
The bag was made so it could be heated in a microwave oven and then placed on a person’s body to give warmth to an aching or arthritic body area. In addition, the fragrances would become more active when heated.
“It took a week to plan this,” Hofstead said. “We want to keep our collaboration over Christmas.”
They have sewing classes at the facility every Tuesday evening and have made ribbon skirt, with ribbon shirts next on the agenda.
The group session provide skill training, plus a sense of unity to tackle the needs of becoming employed and independent.
“They learn all the things they needs to be employed and manage their time effectively,” Greendeer said.
The basket-making event was not only a social occasion, but also a therapeutic device, allowing the participants to become focused on their goals and objectives, she said.
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