Cancer society fundraiser is personal for many at FloraCraft

Left, Conny Bax and Beth Ann Morsman show off two of the Life Blooms foam wig heads designed by different local and craft industry artists. The heads will be auctioned off at the Life Blooms event, 5-9 p.m., Saturday at Lincoln Hills Country Club. The event is sponsored by Floracraft.

Life Blooms event is Saturday night.

By Kate Krieger. MCP Correspondent.

LUDINGTON – Floracraft in Ludington is no stranger to the craft world and all it entails, including producing hundreds of Styrofoam objects. One may not link foam wig heads to cancer, but the employees at Floracraft see these heads as a symbol of hope to those living with cancer and those who are cancer survivors.

CEO Jim Scatena, Conny Bax, Beth Ann Morsman and many others at Floracraft are spear heading Life Blooms, an event being held 5-9 p.m., Saturday, April 12 at Lincoln Hills Country Club in Ludington. The event is to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life of Mason County and Floracraft has been involved in raising money for Relay for many years.

Life Blooms will feature silent and live auction items, Kid’s Corner activities, including a visit and pictures with the Easter Bunny, luminary bag decorating stations and a silent auction of the foam wig heads that have been decorated by local artists and different craft industry designers.

“We reached out to the industry artists who are part of the craft family,” Floracraft marketing manager, Beth Ann Morsman said. “The other half of the artists are local. Everyone either had been affected by cancer or knew someone who had been affected and they were all thrilled to be able to participate.”

Local artists include Mike Cristman, Andrew Thomas and Corrine VanWyck.

Scatena, Bax and Morsman have all been affected by cancer in some way, along with many others at Floracraft.

“There are so many people here at Floracraft who have been directly affected by cancer,” Bax stated. “You really don’t realize how many people overall have been affected.”

Scatena added that he personally has been affected by cancer and his wife, Patty is currently receiving treatment for stage four, small cell cancer. He described a situation when he was in Florida with Patty and they were in a small store where foam wig heads were decorated and they purchased the heads and found them very symbolic because Patty had recently lost her hair and was wearing a wig.

“People who are going through treatment sometimes have an issue with losing their hair and wearing a wig,” Scatena said. “The heads are very symbolic of the journey people who are receiving chemo go through.”

When thinking about different ideas of raising money for Relay for Life and cancer research, it occurred to Scatena and many others to use the resources they had right under their noses at Floracraft and ask artists to create their own interpretations of the wig heads.

“Each head has an inspirational story to why the artist participated or what it means to them,” Morsman stated. “It is really why we decided to choose this to do.”

Bax said that Floracraft has set a $7,500 goal, but they hope to raise more than that through the Life Blooms event, different fundraisers they have been having in-house, donations and selling the Relay for Life feet.

“We are hoping to raise at least $5,000 at the Life Blooms event,” Bax stated. “We are also challenging to beat all the other teams involved in the Relay this year.”

The Life Blooms event costs $20 per person and children under 12 are free. Admission includes appetizers and soft drinks and there will also be a cash bar available. Local cancer survivor, Kristen Fisher-Bailey will also be speaking at the event.

“Jim really hopes the wig heads take off and become a symbol for cancer research,” Bax stated. “If Life Blooms is a success, we will be doing it again.”

Scatena is very proud of the company and all it has done to work towards raising money and awareness for cancer research.

“Lee Schoenherr and the Schoenherr family built a company here based on family values and loyalty to the community,” Scatena stated. “Many of those in our Floracraft family have been touched by cancer and we want to help lead the way towards finding research.”