Women’s Club of Brookfield Places 3rd at 'Festival of Trees' Benefit

From TMH Marketing & Publicity: Ann’s Place, a community based cancer support center for women, men and children, held its annual benefit, Festival of Trees, at the Matrix Conference Center in Danbury, CT. Once again this year, the Women’s Club of Brookfield (WCB) donated a hand-crafted decorated tree to be raffled off at the event. And again, they went home winners, this time receiving 3rd for “Most Beautiful Tree” – other years they have received Honorable Mentions, Best Handcrafted, and other honors under various headings.

The tree titled “The Victorian Tree” was lavishly decorated with delicately white crocheted stars and angels and highly ornate bulbs you may find up in your grandparents attic along with their finest china. Yet these precious ornaments are not from long ago, they were all handmade for this tree with the sole purpose of someone from Ann’s Place to win and cherish.

A professional artist and craftswoman known locally for her elegant handmade cards and specialty gifts, Laura Pizzirusso, notes that "it was a beautifully hand-crafted Victorian decorated tree, reminiscent of times bygone. The particular ornaments I worked on were created with vintage style photos ordained onto wood ornaments with glitter garland surrounding the framed-out centers. They looked so authentic.”

Another woman on the design team, Marie Yapoujian, mentions that, “making the tree is indeed a lot of work; especially the crocheting by hand part, but the WCB has introduced me to the most wonderful way of ‘Giving.’ The kind where you get together with ladies who have the same ideas in mind, where you can use your talent, spend your own funds and create something beautiful … half of it is fun, the other half of it is sheer effort, but in this case we got too admire our tree and give it away with pride knowing it was going to something truly important, it’s going to Ann’s Place. The award for a “Beautiful Tree” makes us smile. But our hearts were already filled with friendship, love and a sense of pride just having it standing among the others.”

Furthermore, another member of the design team, Janice Leggett, has been attending the Festival of Trees well before the WCB began donating trees. She says, “It was always a wonderful way to begin the season. My husband and I both lost our spouses to cancer and we decided to support this event every year. I donate my time and decorating efforts to this cause because Ann’s Place is there to support cancer patients and their families at no cost to them.”

Last year the WCB tree was completely different, it was a “Snowman’s Ball” tree and it took 2nd place as Best Handcrafted. The year before that it was “In the Pink” and the year before that “Toyland,” and thereafter, “Home for the Holidays.” Who knows what 2017 will bring.

This year’s design team was headed by Helen Fitzgerald and included Betty Ziegler, Laura Pizzirusso, Janice Leggett, Marie Yapoujian, Mary Schiffenhaus, Marlys McMullin, Cynthia Buzcheck, Melissa Marici.

For information on Ann’s Place, Celebrating 25 Years: 203-790-6568

For Information on Women’s Club of Brookfield: 203-313-9194 / marici8@aol.com

Images via TMH Marketing & Publicity