Easterseals’ Christmas ornament salutes Tuscaloosa bicentennial

With apt resonance for the centennial year of Easterseals, the West Alabama branch has created a gilded bicentennial Christmas ornament.

“This is a special year for our city, and we appreciate the bicentennial committee allowing us to use the Tuscaloosa200 logo for our ornament," said Ronny Johnston, executive director of Easterseals West Alabama. "It’s a great way to commemorate our city's birthday, and help Easterseals fulfill our mission.”

Special-needs service provider Easterseals, formerly Easter Seals, was founded in 1919 as the National Society for Crippled Children. Tuscaloosa was incorporated as a town Dec. 13, 1819. Since 1995, Easterseals West Alabama — under the broader umbrella, each Easterseals remains its own independent facility, programming needs to fit community needs — has created limited-edition Christmas tree ornaments, featuring iconic images from around the area.

Late University of Alabama artist and professor Richard Brough was credited with the first ornament image, of the Jemison Home. Other local artists including Chip Cooper, Danny Rountree and Joe Rossomanno have been behind images of the Old Tavern, the University Club, City Cafe and last year, Rusty the Big Red Dog, perched atop a building on the Kentuck Art Center campus. A few editions of previous ornaments remain, for the Mildred Warner House, Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, The Round House, the downtown clock, Tuska the elephant statue, Rama Jama, the old L&N train station and riverboat Bama Belle, but all the rest sold out.

Anticipating increased draw for the once-in-a-lifetime choice, Easterseals doubled its usual 250 order to 500 for the Tuscaloosa200 ornament, which shows the bicentennial logo against a clear backing, colored by fireworks. It's a horizontal piece, set in a frame floating within a wider frame, with the words West Alabama Memories emblazoned above, and 1819-2019 below, struck by ChemArt. Some avid collectors ask for the same number, or numbers, each year. 

"If these 500 sell out, we have time to get a second run," assuming sufficient demand, said Gwen Stewart, who handles events and public relations for Easterseals West Alabama.

At $20 each, the ornaments aren't as significant a fundraiser as the group's yearly Ball, formerly Mall Ball.

"We say it's more of a friend-raiser, to get our name out there, make a good impression on the community," Johnston said.

Easterseals began as an effort to raise healthcare standards in the small community of Elyria, Ohio, and has now spread nationwide, and internationally to Australia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Canada.

"Our origin was a tragedy for a family that decided to change the world," Johnston said, "and here we are."

In 1907, a trolleycar killed a son of Elyria businessman Edgar Allen. Shocked by the inadequacy of medical services, Allen sold his business and began raising funds to construct a hospital. While researching health care, he was further dismayed to find that children with disabilities were often hidden away in hospitals, out of public view.

"He did not like that," Johnston said.

So in 1919 Allen founded the National Society for Crippled Children. An Easter stamp campaign, showing support for the society by placement on letters and envelopes, began in spring 1934. Cleveland Plain Dealer cartoonist J.H. Donahey crafted a stylized, simple Easter lily, to represent how children served by the society asked simply for the right to a normal life. The symbol of rebirth became so familiar, the society incorporated the Easter lily as its logo in 1952, and by 1967, changed the group's name to match: Easter Seals. The rebranding as Easterseals, and a new logo, came about in 2017.

Easterseals West Alabama's roots began in 1959 as the Tuscaloosa Rehabilitation Facility, with just four staff and 10 consumers served. Over the decades it has grown to serve several West Alabama counties, joining under the Easter Seals banner in 1985. Easterseals West Alabama serves at-risk and variously abled people in workforce and academic development; as a Social Security representative payee, helping recipients manages funds; and offering health and educational guidance for young families, a kind of "pre- Pre-K," Johnston said.

Though Easterseals West Alabama benefits from generous businesses and foundations, and from its status with the United Way, fundraisers help keep services going.

"Not all of our programs cover their cost. Most of them don't," Johnston said.

This year's Christmas ornaments, which will eventually be planted in the city's bicentennial time capsule as well as on holiday displays, are available for $20 from Hudson Poole Fine Jewelers, Bryant Bank, or online at www.eswaweb.org. Call 759-1211, Ext. 229 for more.