LAC LA BICHE - Lac La Biche’s Marvin Fyten likes to offer gifts of praise to those he sees around him who deserve some recognition. An avid woodworker in his spare time, some of those gifts are hand-crafted creations made with care in his home workshop.
Currently, Fyten is working on a wooden mallet series that he sends as gifts to his loved ones, and to people who help bring order and well-being into the world around them. His latest gift — mallet number 48, which included an engraved phrase — has made the national stage earlier this month after Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam sent him a personalized thank you photograph and note.
Fyten said Tam, who has been the federal spokesperson for health issues during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, was sent the gift for all the work she’s done and the challenges she’s endured throughout the pandemic.
“The people that work in that industry they don’t get too much in the line of thank you’s for what they come up with…all they get is the criticism,” he told Lakeland This Week.
To try and circumvent the negative, Fyten said he was happy to create a gift for Tam.
“That was mallet number 48 that I sent to Dr. Tam… it read: ‘Dr. Theresa Tam BIGG Dawg Lady Science Officer Health Canada my hero. Thanks for all the good work'.”
Fyten was pleased to receive a personalized response from the national healthcare boss.
“She has a beautiful smile and it showed in the photograph,” says Fyten who was glad to see her with one for the first time since she normally looks quite stressed when he sees her provide health updates.
Recognizing the community
Fyten has been gifting his work to community members, friends and family since he took up the woodworking projects over 30 years ago. He’s happy to see the reactions.
“I don’t sell my work, I give it away. I do it because I enjoy it… I give it to people that I want to acknowledge and recognize for the fact that they are doing something in their community,” he says.
Other recent recipients include former Lac La Biche County Mayor Omer Moghrabi for his service in the community.
“The mallet I made for Omer is a good example of that,” he said.
Ultimately, being a part of a community means recognizing the good work people do — even if it’s a small moment of happiness. It can go a long way for people's health, said Fyten.
“They're constantly under stress… anything that we can do to lower somebody’s stress level I think we should do what we can.”
