This holiday season, the CNS Charitable Care Program gave a special gift to families throughout Utah whose loved one passed away with assistance from the CNS Hospice Program in the last year.

“Coping with grief is always difficult and the holiday season really amplifies feelings of loss,” said Laura Thomas, Director of Philanthropy for CNS.

CNS has operated the Memorial Ornament Program in partnership with Jenkins-Soffe Utah Funeral Homes for more than 10 years. Originally, ornaments were available for a suggested donation to the CNS Charitable Care Program. Thanks to our amazing donors, we were able to give a free ornament to each family on our bereavement list this year, which added up to 1,300 families!

This year’s ornament was a mini glass bottle with the deceased person’s name written on a paper enclosed within the bottle.  Recipients were also given a small envelope of notepapers to write messages to their lost loved one throughout the year.

Making 1,300 memorial ornaments is no easy feat, which is why CNS partnered with local Stampin’ Up! crafting group, Queens of the Stamp Age, to make special tags and assemble the huge quantity of ornaments.

Crafting group Leader, Brandi Barnard shared, “when Laura first reached out to me about this Memorial Ornament project, I had not heard of CNS. But as soon as I explained to my team about the project opportunity, many of them shared that they had been personally affected by the good work that CNS does. Everyone was thrilled to be able to help.”

Throughout the month of December, more than 80 individuals volunteered their time and crafting skills to make this amazing project happen. The project was kicked off with a day of crafting at the Junior League of Salt Lake with 35 volunteers dedicating their time.

As the hours went by, volunteers shared stories about their personal experiences with CNS or losing a loved one.  “Death is something we don’t talk about often, but that we all have in common,” said Kimberly Dansie, CNS Vice President of Community Outreach. “Volunteering to help others through their grief process is such a meaningful volunteer experience.”

The project took CNS volunteers and staff two weeks to complete and everyone involved was thrilled with the opportunity.

“Watching the boxes go out in the mail to bereaved families was the best part. I loved imagining their faces as they received this little surprise in the mail,” said Laura Thomas, “but then the responses started coming in and I realized that the best part was yet to come. It is wonderful hearing about how we brightened people’s days.”

Anyone can order an ornament from the CNS Memorial Ornament Program, with just a small donation to the CNS Charitable Care Program. Simply visit our website to place an order to memorialize your loved ones.