December 9, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
The “Love Lights A Tree” display board for the American Cancer Society has undergone a renovation thanks to the carpentry class and others at DeKalb County High School.
The new board now on the south grounds of the courthouse bears the names of persons being honored and remembered by friends and loved ones. For a $5.00 donation to the DeKalb County Unit of the American Cancer Society you can have a name placed on the display board.
“Love Lights A Tree” has been a fixture during the Christmas and New Year holidays for many years but over time wear and tear has created a need for a makeover.
Brad Leach, Career and Technical Education Director at DCHS, said when Love Lights a Tree spokesperson Iva Dell Randolph reached out to him for help, he was glad to oblige along with DCHS shop teachers Gary Caplinger in Carpentry, Michael Whitefield in Automotive, and Todd Cantrell in Machine and their classes.
“She came to us and asked if we would be interested in keeping the signs updated and to put the names on them. Mr. Caplinger and I agreed to do that and decided we needed to build new signs for them, so we went together with our students and constructed the new signs. We revised them a little and then put the names on them. Some rebar steel was provided from our metals program to do the supports for the signs and Mr. Whitefield helped us in delivering the signs downtown. Mr. Caplinger was really instrumental in the design and the construction with his students, and I just want to say a big thank you to them for doing that for us,” said Leach.
Caplinger said he and his class were happy to help because the signs were in need of an upgrade.
“The need to take the signs down every year and repaint them and add new names as needed created a little bit of a problem so Mr. Leach came up with a design that made the signs a lot more mobile,” said Caplinger. “My class built the signs in such a way that now all they have to do is just take them downtown, set them up, and pin them down with some stakes that Mr. Cantrell provided. Mr. Whitefield welded them up for us and we kind of nailed them down to the ground so that each year we can easily take them up and bring them back, repaint and recondition them, and add names as needed. This makes it a lot easier. I want to brag on my students both boys and girls. They did a wonderful job building and painting the signs,” added Caplinger.
“We are glad Ms. Randolph asked us to do this project because it gave us a chance to be of service to the community through our school,” said Leach.
Love Lights A Tree names are in “honor of” and in “memory of” for a donation of five dollars per name. Forms may be obtained at the local banks. For more information, contact Iva Dell Randolph at 615- 597-5296, Melanie Judkins at 615-464-7664, Renea Cantrell at 615-684-2688, or Gail Taylor 615-597-5936.
The DeKalb County Unit of the American Cancer Society seeks your support in the “Love Lights a Tree” fundraising campaign to raise money for research to find a cure as well as cancer education and patient services. Donations may be made throughout the holiday season. The persons you honor or remember do not necessarily have to have suffered from cancer.