Card Crafters

Carroll County Times
January 6, 2012

Stephen Goodwin picked up a Christmas greeting card with a desert scene on the front and handed it to Chris Henry. “What do you think?” Goodwin asked.  Henry and Goodwin were busy cutting out portions of holiday cards Thursday morning at The Arc Carroll County in Westminster.

They were among more than a dozen clients of The Arc who were creating unique holiday greetings from greeting cards donated to the nonprofit for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Portions of the donated cards are used to create new holiday greetings. Each card is unique.  The cards are $5 for a 10-pack. They tend to sell out quickly in December, said Lisa Albin, Director of Development. Clients are currently creating cards for next year’s Christmas season and for Valentine’s Day, she said.

The proceeds from the cards are used to help fund The Arc’s annual holiday party for its clients. Albin said The Arc clients work on cards as part of their daily activities.  The Arc relies on greeting card donations for the project. The Westminster Police Department and the  Women’s Club of Westminster are frequent contributors, Albin said.  “We’ll have them dropped off all year long, even in July,” The Arc Executive Director Donald Rowe said.

 Chris Henry, Tim Klim and Stephen Goodwin     
Chris Henry, Tim Klim and Stephen Goodwin cut out parts of holiday and greeting cards, part of the process of making recycled cards at The Arc Carroll County.  

Albin said all cards are used. If The Arc Carroll County has too many, they are shipped to other state locations that do not have enough.  “People want to support us,” Albin said. “They want to recycle. It’s a perfect combination.”

Henry, Goodwin, Timmy Klim and Tori Eshelman worked together as a team while cutting out the cards. They cut out the images on the front of the cards. The scraps were recycled.  Each card comes with a message on the back.

“This card is the unique creation of a person with a developmental disability,” the card message read. “Each one is as individual as they are.”