Helping people with disabilities is as easy as sipping tea and arranging flowers

Wow your family and friends this holiday season with a festive centerpiece that will “outlast Aunt Edna’s fruit cake,” according to a news release from UCP Center for Disability Services in Joliet.

The “Winter Holly & Evergreen Tea” will be held at 11 a.m. Dec. 4. Angela Cabay, a florist from Labo’s Flowers & Gifts in Joliet, will teach the virtual class. Registration deadline is Nov. 29.

Gina Wysocki-Szpur, development director, said in an email that the center held its first floral arranging workshop in May and it was a “blast.” The point of the workshops are to make the participants’ next party “fun, simple, festive and leave their family and friends praising their creative talents,” Wysocki-Szpur said in the email.

For the registration fee of $55, participants will receive “farm fresh” flowers and greenery, scissors, tape, ribbon and a country mason jar, Wysocki-Szpur said.

Participants will also receive a kit to make Spiced Chai Tea: Recipe card, organic Chai tea bag, “a pinch or two” of fresh evergreens, 1.5 oz. of the smoothest bourbon, two-ounce bear of local honey and a commemorative campfire coffee mug, Wysocki-Szpur said.

While participants sip their tea, Cabay will provide step-by-step instructions on “how to create a beautiful and traditional wintery floral arrangement that even Aunt Edna would approve,” the release said, along with some floral “tips and tricks” from Cabay.

Don’t worry if you’ve never arranged flowers. You can still attend the “Winter Holly & Evergreen Tea.”

“Everyone’s style is so different, from classic, to rustic, vintage or contemporary,” Cabay said in the email. “If you start with what makes you happy, you can make something you are proud of.”

Cabay has plenty of experience, She was just in high school when she started working at Labo’s more than 20 years ago.

“I felt such a close connection with all of the women that worked there,” Cabay wrote in the email. “They taught me the basics of design along with tips and tricks of the trade, but most importantly, to trust my judgment.”

Wysocki-Szpur said the center is planning other virtual workshops.

“In fact, we welcome everyone to reach out to us if they have a special talent or hobby that they would like to share with us for a possible future workshop,” Wysocki-Szpur said.

Register for the “Winter Holly & Evergreen Tea” at ucp-cds.org.

Kits will be ready for curbside pickup at the center from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 3. The center is located at 311 S. Reed St. in Joliet.

A Zoom link will be forwarded to registrants. Proceeds benefit the UCP Center for Disability Services, which programs and services have expanded to people with autism, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, orthopedic impairment and other developmental disabilities who live in Will, Kankakee, Grundy, Kendall, and Iroquois counties.