WAUKESHA — The Hurst family garage isn't Santa's workshop, but it's filled with just as much of the holiday giving spirit. After the Waukesha Christmas parade tragedy, Micheal Hurst and his family have been busy making "Waukesha Strong" wooden ornaments.
"We were at the parade and I pulled my son back within inches from being hit. I wasn't sleeping that first night," Hurst said.
But, making the ornaments has been therapeutic.
"It helps me sleep, I'm so tired at the end of the night. I mean there's still nightmares, and I'll try to get over it, but this helps a little bit knowing that it's helping the families that need it," he said.
The ornaments are just $5 and all the proceeds go to the United for Waukesha Community Fund, which helps victims impacted by the parade tragedy.
You can order the ornament's directly from the Hurst Woodcrafting Facebook page, they're also for sale at stores in Waukesha like Burlap and Lace and Pop's Marketplace. So far, Hurst said about 3,000 ornaments have been sold.
"We actually joke that when Mike first said our goal was 1,000 ornaments, I kind of laughed and said there's no way we're going to sell 1,000 ornaments, maybe 200," said Tayler Hurst. "Now we've gotten orders from all over the country."
The production and packaging of the ornaments has taken over the Hurst garage and dining room table. And because orders have far exceeded what they thought, they're also asking for donations from the community for things like wood and ribbon to tie on the ornaments.
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"It's pretty amazing and overwhelming. We had no idea how far we would reach with this and it's so awesome just to see how everybody is coming together," Tayler said.
Hurst said that if his family "were in their shoes, we would hope people were helping us too."
Ornaments will be available to order through their Facebook page through Friday, Dec. 3rd. They'll be available in stores through Dec.18th.