Now that Christmas is over and the decorations are put away or at least the thought has crossed your mind, what happens to your Christmas tree?
Many are converted into mulch or compost material, but those that make their way to Oscar De Vere Morris in Eustis, Florida go on to live a second life as a cane for a veteran.
After his time in the service, Morris, a Navy veteran, began working with wood. One day he made a cane and gave it away. Morris came up with the idea to make canes and donate them to the local VA, but they couldn’t accept them.
So he started Free Canes for Veterans and set a goal of making 500 canes for veterans.
When he first started out Morris used cedar, crepe myrtle, and maple, but it was after a donation from a friend who worked at Lowe’s that he began working with Christmas trees.
“I was running out of wood, and I had a friend that worked at Lowe’s,” Morris told WKMG. “And she contacted me and said they had a bunch of Christmas trees they couldn’t sell. And she asked, ‘Could you make a cane out of that?’ And I lied and I said yes I can.”
Since starting Free Canes for Veterans, Morris has crafted and given away over 1,000 unique canes to veterans living across the country.
“Basically, it tells that veteran’s past and it’s good therapy for these veterans because a lot of them don’t talk about their past,” the Navy veteran said. “But this has been an eye-opener for conversations for them.”
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