Over the years, we are contacted by people from all over the world to make a piece of furniture for a loved one. Sometimes it is for an anniversary present, sometimes it is to conmemorate a life or a milestone or to fit perfectly in a historic place. In the past couple months, we have received 2 very special requests and we wanted to take a moment to mention them.
Last week we were contacted by a Major in the U.S. Army. He said he and his wife had been looking for a bench for their home to conmemorate their first wedding anniversary. They wanted a special piece with a custom engraving to match their wedding band inscriptions. The Major was writing from Afghanistan and was heading home in a few weeks and wanted this special piece to be waiting for him to assemble it upon arrival a couple days before the anniversary. We were touched and gave him a discount on an Adirondack Loveseat and expedited shipping.
Over the years, we have done a lot of work for the U.S. Military because they appreciate furniture that is really built to last. We have shipped items to many military bases and to serviceman from all branches of the military. For example, The Center Court of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. has over 120 pieces from Forever Redwood. We began outfitting the Pentagon in 2003 with Adirondack Chairs and Picnic Tables and every few years they add to their order. This year, we added 6 Round Picnic Tables to the Center Court. I was honored to visit the Pentagon for one of the installations and was honestly surprised and moved to see that every single piece was occupied by serviceman working on laptops, lunching or even taking a quick “power nap”.
The most delicate and heartbreaking job we have had to do was for the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, CT. We were contacted to build a Tree Bench to honor the 20 children and 6 teachers that passed on Dec 14th. We built the Tree Bench at below cost with an engraved message from an Emma Goldman poem about children. The bench is circular and will have a Plum tree planted within it. The city is remodeling a park near the school where the bench will be placed in May. We normally never mention our Memorial Bench work due to the delicate nature of the requests. Since this tragedy is worldwide news, I decided a small mention here is hopefully appropriate. I took the initial calls to create the bench details and was overwhelmed. Still breaks my heart and probably will for another 20 years. Gotta give thanks everyday for being around and feeling it all.
