DECK THE HALLS

WASILLA — In Christmases past, Mat-Su Services for Children and Adults has done a few things to help employees and consumers celebrate the holiday season.

The local nonprofit, which provides a wide range of support for adults with developmental disabilities and families with children experiencing developmental delays or disabilities, has hosted standard holiday functions. There are the Christmas parties and potlucks, and there’s been an office door-decorating contest to help add a little flair to the workplace.

But this year, MSSCA employees decided to kick it up a notch and spent the last few weeks decking their hallways with decorations.

The office door-decorating contest has graduated to a hallway decorating contest, and now the MSSCA hallways are decked out with a load of lights, wrapping paper, construction paper and other decorations.

“The participation was severely lacking the last few years,” said Linda Duarte, a chairperson on MSSCA’s events committee. “I thought if we all work together, do some team-building, we could try to do our sections of the hallways and all work together.”

The MSSCA events committee chose a theme for the contest, holiday music and office hallways were decorated with the inspiration of seven different holiday songs — “Jingle Bells,” “Silent Night,” “Deck the Halls,” “Let it Snow,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Twelve Days of Christmas” and “Frosty the Snowman.”

Groups of officemates collaborated to design and decorate their respective territories. Duarte said the new idea has been a great success.

“This year every single door was wrapped in wrapping paper and decorated,” Duarte said.

Initially, Duarte said, there was some hesitation, but once folks really started to get involved, the project took off.

“It really got people into the spirit,” Duarte said. “It really got competitive.”

Even though there was competition, Duarte said the project has done a great deal for the overall morale of the office and it has allowed employees from different departments to work together.

Employees went above and beyond to complete the projects, Duarte said. On the “Deck the Halls” wall, employees used construction paper to create rectangular bricks for a fireplace, giving it a three-dimensional feel. MSSCA consumers made homemade stockings to hang in the office.

As employees and consumers walk through the “Winter Wonderland” hallway, they’ll see a verse of the song on each office door with appropriate decorations to match.

Another group created its interpretation of “Twelve Days of Christmas.” Its version includes things such as two baby seals and four mud tires.

Duarte said all the decorations for the “Deck the Halls” wall were handmade.

“There was glitter on almost every piece of paper,” Duarte said.

Duarte said employees have had a lot of fun with the project.

And, of course, there are a lot of Christmas lights hanging throughout the hallways.

Duarte even has plans to award the winning group with a plaque that will be kept in that hallway until next year.

MSSCA Executive Director John Cannon said he’s very impressed with the work.

“It gets the creative juices flowing, gets them into the spirit of the holidays,” Cannon said. “I think in terms of a morale booster, it’s definitely worth the effort.”

Cannon said the project has sparked a friendly camaraderie and helped relieve some stress for his employees who work daily to ensure the needs of their consumers are met. MSSCA has been in the Valley for 26 years, and employs about 250 people in six departments. There are 100 full-time employees, 75-80 who work at MSSCA’s Palmer-Wasilla Highway office.

“I think this opportunity allowed them to take a break and just do something that is a stress reliever,” Cannon said.

Duarte said she hopes this continues to grow to become an annual holiday tradition at MSSCA.

“I hope so. We want it to be a little different next time. It really helps the team-building,” Duarte said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.