The Giving Tree

Winters Healthcare wanted to honor the many people that gave a substantial gift toward the construction of our new building in 2019. Since we are a primarily agrarian community, surrounded by orchards, we thought a “tree” with leaves representing each donor would be a good fit to showcase those who have supported our vision of helping the community to achieve optimal health.

 

Originally, we had contracted with a specialty donor company in New York to create The Giving Tree. However, when it arrived in February of 2020 and we opened it, and were sad to find that it had been damaged in shipping. The bottom of the tree was bent and the finished backing was split and could no longer be used to mount the tree. We talked to our representative in New York and they were going to fabricate a new backing and ship it to us in 60 days. Then COVID-19 hit full force......

 

In March, I was lamenting to two of my fellow Rotarians, Garfield “Gar” House (House Wood Works) and Dan Williams (Daniel W Designs) about the broken tree and how shipping it back was going to be difficult all things considered, and that we were going to have to put the project on hold.

 

They both immediately offered to help.

 

They saw an opportunity to ensure that the new backing for The Giving Tree would reflect the community in a more personal way. Both Gar and Dan believed that the tree should embody and symbolize the community spirit of Winters as well as recognize and honor the prominence of agriculture in Yolo County.

 

To achieve their artistic aspirations, Gar and Dan chose to construct the Giving Tree entirely of wood from two walnut tree species: English walnut, Juglans regia, and Northern California Black walnut, Juglans hindsii. Both of these walnut trees naturally produce wood of multiple and distinct colors, densities, grains, and patterns. The dark brown walnut wood is from heartwood, the densest and heaviest wood, while the very light and unique speckled or "spalted" blocks reveal the wood was exploited and subsequently colored by fungal growth, typically occurring in dead or stressed trees 

 

Authenticity and quality control were of paramount importance. Thus, throughout the year of COVID, 2020, Dan would head out to Gar’s mill, and the two men would cut, sand, and join over a hundred solid walnut woodblocks that were handcrafted from the resulting walnut wood, which Gar and Dan enjoyed assembling into an elegant mosaic tree one layer at a time.

 

In the end, the Winters Healthcare Donor Tree that had arrived broken, shattered, and unable to be used transformed into a custom work of art, created by two local guys who wanted to help, regardless of the struggles 2020 had brought to our community. This was labor rooted in love, and community, that will showcase others who understand the value of giving back for years to come.

 

The Giving Tree was completed in February 2021 and brought to the Winters Health Clinic for exhibition in May 2021. There are currently leaves that still need to be filled on the tree. 

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To contact Dan Willaims for your design needs: Home (danielwdesigns.com)