Woodworking students from Red Deer have carved a customized coffee table for talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres – and they are hoping to gift it to her in Calgary.
Eight enthusiastic students from Central Middle School are heading to the Saddledome Saturday, April 21, to attend A Conversation with Ellen live show.
DeGeneres doesn’t know it yet, but the grades 6 to 8 students (with a few returning Grade 9ers) are hoping to grab her attention for long enough to show her the table they created specifically for her Ellen Show set.
DeGeneres, who hosted a furniture design TV reality show, is known for her “passion” for sleek modern lines, said Shawn Moore, a mentor in the Sawing for Schools after-school club.
That’s why Moore believes she will love the burled wood table students crafted for her out of a poplar tree that had to be cut down along 43rd Avenue in Red Deer.
It has a natural edge, metal legs and Ellen logo in blue resin.
Many of the beautifully finished repurposed wood tables made by kids in Central’s Sawing for Schools program feature carved-out sections. Some are inlaid with colourful Edmonton Oilers or Calgary Flames logos, and sell for $2,000 each, with profits rolled into club programs and school field trips.
Moore said Central students just received an order to make 10 of these tables for a local businessman who’s paying $23,000.
The Calgary Flames previously ordered custom 100 wooden cribbage boards from the Central students, to give out as gifts or at fundraisers. As the finished crib boards are being delivered to the Calgary hockey team Saturday, Moore is hoping to “slip” the Ellen Show table into the Saddledome as well, then get word to the talk-show host.
If DeGeneres is willing to take the students’ gift, Moore said he’d be happy to have the table shipped down to Los Angeles for her.
Moore, the owner of Trimmed Line Tree Services, helped start the Sawing for Schools program with the goals of inspiring craftsmanship in students, and allowing them utilize beautifully grained wood that would otherwise be burnt or scrapped.
Another aim was teaching kids about replanting. Since trees take so long to grow in this harsh climate, Moore has applied for a grant for indoor “vertical farming” equipment that will the students to grow their own vegetables.
Some Central Middle School students will be off to Las Vegas next week to attend the indoor Ag-Con show to learn about indoor agriculture from two companies that offer materials to build an agricultural classroom that would to allow them to grow produce during the school year.
Moore said their plane tickets are paid for by the Sawing For Schools proceeds.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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