HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — It's an exciting day in the home of 79-year-old Betty Curry Phipps. She is about to give away her 550th wreath to a man named Melvin Mahan.
Mahan calls himself a "duck whisperer" and his new wreath reflects that. There is a duck decoy in the middle, surrounded by fake foliage typically found by a pond or lake, like cattails.
"I'm honored, this means a lot," he said when Phipps handed him the wreath. "This is my third [wreath], I got one duck and a Christmas wreath."
It's not unusual for people who receive a wreath by Phipps to have more than one. For the last couple of years, she has been making wreaths and giving them away for free through one of the Buy Nothing groups in Havre de Grace.
"My motto is making Havre de Grace even more beautiful, one wreath at a time," she said.
Phipps has been making wreaths for decades and says she use to sell them at local arts and crafts shows. Through the Buy Nothing group, she'll give away anywhere from 5 to 10 wreaths a week.
"When I gift the wreaths, the expression on the people’s faces it just melts my heart."
Owning a "Betty wreath" is like being part of a special club, even the mayor of Havre de Grace has one. Anna Rogers, creator of the Havre de Grace Buy Nothing group, also has a couple of wreaths. The one that means the most to her is one Phipps made to represent her family's two religions.
"I just wanted a Hanukkah-Christmas wreath so badly and I was looking online there was nothing. And I said wait a second, Mrs. Betty could make this for me!"
And the gifting goes both ways. People will drop off bags full of materials for Phipps to use in her next creations.
"I’m so blessed for all these people on our group who keep me going and we can make Havre de Grace beautiful," she said.
Back in 2010, Phipps was diagnosed with stage 4 COPD. It makes it difficult for her to get around, much less leave the house. She loves meeting and talking to the people who come to her home to collect their wreath.
"This wreath-making keeps me active and my doctor told me he said I don’t know what you’re doing but keep doing it," she said.
And Rogers said that is the mission of the Buy Nothing group, to bring a community together.
"People who have lived here all their lives like Mrs. Betty are meeting people for the first time that they’ve never met and people who are new don’t feel so isolated. They feel like they are part of something and we all care about each other."
For more information on how to start a Buy Nothing project in your community, click here.
