Local organization, Wonderfully Made Workshop shared how they working with those living with special needs to create works of art and how the community can help their efforts at Thursday’s Kiwanis Club meeting.
Wonderfully Made Workshop was founded by Stephanie Harton a little over a year ago. The organization collects donated and recycled jewelry and invites community members with special needs to turn the jewelry into ornaments that are then sold at local stores.
Harton says the idea for the workshop came to her as she was watching ABC News and saw a segment about the Augusta Training Shop in Augusta, Georgia. The organization employed workers with disabilities to craft holiday ornaments.
After watching the news segment, Harton participated in a workshop with the Pennyrile Arts Council and she made a tree ornament out of old jewelry and says that she wanted to bring the activity to those in the community with disabilities. Harton says she then worked with the arts council and the Hopkinsville Art Guild to bring the workshop to life.
After the initial inception of the workshop, Harton says they hosted a jewelry drive, and with the jewelry they collected they partnered with Trace Industries and Special Olympics to sort through the jewelry and then hosted a design party to create ornament templates for members of the workshop.
Harton says they have also started working with schools in the area. Students have helped the workshop create ornament design templates and special education students have crafted those ornaments.
Lynnea Jellison, a special education teacher at Christian County High School says when she saw the work the organization was doing, she asked Harton if they could host a workshop for her students. Jellison says the ornament crafting helps her students with following instructions and that the activity boosts their self-confidence.
Looking toward the future, Harton says they working to officially be recognized as a nonprofit, hope to find their own space for the workshop and want to start employing adult members of the workshop.
Some of the workshop’s ornaments can be bought at Gracious Me, the Alhambra Theater and Staton’s Art and Framing. Those who want to part ways with their old jewelry can donate it to the workshop by dropping it off at the Hopkinsville YMCA or the Alhambra Theater.
More information about the workshop can be found at Wonderfully Made Workshop on Facebook.