Apple Country Woodcrafters (ACW), a Henderson County non-profit best known for making more than 2,500 wooden toys each year to give to children, recently built a bench for the Hedrick-Rhodes Veterans Center. ACW member Bob Johnson is also a member of VFW Post 5206 and recently saw a bench in the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. that inspired him.
The back of the Renwick bench was made with discarded shovel handles and was meant to give solace to people who used shovels in their labor. Bob, a retired Army infantry officer, knew that soldiers and Marines are accustomed to using shovels to dig fox holes, and thought ACW could make a similar bench using the handles of military shovels. He found Robert Sebby, a craftsman with ACW and, in short order, a bench was made.
On Monday, May 5, at 10.a.m., Gary Mach, President of ACW presented the bench to Brett Embry, Veterans Service Officer for Henderson County and Ed Skrivanek, Commander of VFW Post 5206 at the Hedrick-Rhodes Veterans Center at 900 North Main Street, Hendersonville, NC.
