Pictured with the display that will be in the Omaha airport are, from left: (seated) Clayton Kent, Marlin Pozehl, Pee Wee Schulz and Del Junge; and (standing) Dick Stillahn, Dave Oates and Ray Sloup. The men are volunteers with Cross Makers of Seward.
Two years—10,000 crosses.
The Cross Makers of Seward reached the milestone recently. Cross Makers creates wooden palm crosses from cedar, oak and walnut. The crosses are sold at various stores in Seward and around the state through Grow Nebraska.
Clayton Kent is one of the group’s founders. He and another volunteer started making the crosses on May 7, 2010. The group has grown to 13-14 volunteers including Clayton and Lisetta Kent, Marlin and Dolores Pozehl, Richard Stillahn, Leroy and Marlys Lehr, Marvin “Pee Wee” Schulz, Rachel Pozehl, Dean Yates, Ray Sloup, Delbert Junge, Dave Oates, Larry Correll and Raymond “Butch” Walden.
“We have a bunch of wonderful volunteers,” Kent said. “But we need more.”
The money raised from cross sales is donated to local organizations. Among the recipients have been the Blue Valley Food Pantry, Seward Youth Center, CASA, the Kiwanis backpack program, Boy Scouts and the Goehner spaghetti feed.
Kent estimated the Cross Makers have given $4,300 to local groups in the last two years.
Kent’s brother and nephew at St. John in Hastings started making the crosses after a woman from Grand Island introduced them to the idea. Kent said it took some soul searching before he decided to try.
The group meets in the mornings Monday through Thursday to work on the crosses. Kent said their handiwork has been sent all over the world. The group has heard of the crosses in England, Turkey, Germany and Ecuador.
Churches are beginning to use the crosses as confirmation mementos, he said.
Kent said the Cross Makers give away about 60 percent of what they make and sell the rest. Madonna Rehabilitation Center in Lincoln has received crosses for patients who want them. Members have also provided crosses to funeral homes to give to grieving families.
Thanks to Grow Nebraska, Cross Makers will also have a display at the Omaha airport, Kent said. It was to be set up March 24 and open April 2.
It takes between one and two hours to complete one palm cross. The majority are made of cedar. Kent said the wood they’re currently using was donated to the group. Large cedar trees work better because their color is better, he said.
The logs are taken to a man in Palmyra who cuts them into lumber, which is brought back to Seward to dry. Once it’s dry, the crosses are cut using scroll saws. Kent said a lot of the volunteers do that work in their own shops.
Each cross goes through nine sanding processes before it’s dipped in the polyurethane to seal it.
No two crosses are alike because of the differences in shapes, sizes and color of the wood.
All the workers are volunteers, Kent said.
“It’s very rewarding,” he said. “It’s a wonderful program.”
Cross Makers has received many letters thanking them for the crosses and describing the comfort the recipient found. Kent said one man wanted to be buried with his. A woman wanted so desperately to take her cross into surgery with her she taped it to her hand. Medical personnel didn’t allow that but promised it would be waiting when she came out.
The Cross Makers are online at www.thecrossmakers.etsy.com and can be reached via e-mail at thecrossmakers@yahoo.com.
Volunteers are always welcome, Kent said. Contact him in Seward for more information.
