Neighborhood hit by last year’s December tornado gifted Christmas ornaments

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - A neighborhood devastated by last year’s tornado got an extra bit of Christmas cheer this afternoon.

“Operation Christmas Ornaments is a group of volunteers that wanted to do something to bring light and hope and happiness to the tornado survivors,” said Co-Coordinator Laura Davis, “So we got together and we created handcrafted ornaments.”

Whispering Hills families were given 12 of the over 17,000 handmade ornaments, sourced from all over the U.S. and Japan, as well as notes of good wishes.

“It was just so very uplifting, it made it a lot easier on everybody. It helped everybody’s attitude. Just stop thinking about ‘oh, everything that I lost’ and how much people were willing to give up their own time and supplies,” said Whispering Hill resident Karen Campbell.

When asked what inspired Operation Christmas Ornaments, Davis said sentimentality.

“It’s something that we don’t think about when people have a disaster. They’re going back, they’re trying to rebuild their daily lives,” Davis said. “Then it comes to Christmas and they remember that the special memories that went with ornaments are all gone.”

A well-deserved piece of Christmas spirit, for those who lost so much.

“We’re getting our neighborhood back,” Campbell said. “It just kind of made me look forward to this Christmas.”

Whispering Hills was not the only spot that got some Christmas cheer.

The organization, Just Serve, made deliveries to several schools and neighborhoods in town. This includes Jennings Creek Elementary, T.C. Cherry Elementary, and the Creekwood neighborhood.

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