Cards for Christmas: The Arc of Carroll County recycles holiday greetings

Carroll County Times
12/16/2008

With the help of the community, The ARC of Carroll County is giving people a way to recycle their old Christmas cards into a different set of season’s greetings.

Some of the people who attend the ARC cut out pictures and sayings from used Christmas cards to create new versions.

The ARC is an organization that advocates for and supports people with developmental disabilities and their families in Carroll County.

Laura Syes, a program coordinator at the ARC, said she had seen church groups recycle holiday greetings and it was a good way for people to get rid of old cards.

“People save them for years. They crowd up your house,” she said.

Syes said the community sent in enough old cards to fill two large trashcan-sized containers.

“The response is unbelievable,” she said.

After they get the swing of things with Christmas cards, Syes said the group might expand to doing birthday cards, or get well and sympathy cards.

The group takes the submitted cards and cuts out pictures and sayings and glues images onto card stock. The cards are then decorated with extra ribbons or layering of other colored paper. The back of each card is marked with a note that tells the consumer the card was made by a person with a developmental disability.

Everything goes through a quality control process. Tina Marie South, a person who receives support from the ARC, said that she looks at all the cards and determines what can be sold and what can not.

Syes said the ones that are not sold are sent home with the person who made them, to share with his or her family.

The cards are being sold in packs of 10 in the ARC’s lobby, at the Carroll Arts Center, a dental office and a law firm.

Syes said the cards have been selling and the companies that stock them are asking for more.

“We’ve gotten some nice notes back,” she said.

Syes said she hopes they will continue to make the cards even after Christmas to get a jump start on next year. Eventually, Syes wants this activity to become a routine.

“The more routine it gets, the more involved we can get,” she said.

TO MAKE A PURCHASE

Cards can be purchased at The ARC of Carroll County, Carroll County Arts Center, Sturgill & Associates LLP and All Smiles Dental Care. The cards come in packs of 10 and cost $5, with all money going to support the ARC and those that made the cards.

Reach staff writer Erica Kritt at 410-857-7876 or erica.kritt@carrollcountytimes.com.

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