Making Masks

The 2014 Covenant Hospice Mask Parade and Gala will feature art works signed by Duck Dynasty’s Phil, Willie, Si and Jase Robertson, former Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden, current University of South Carolina coach and former Florida Gator Steve Spurrier and country music group The Eli Young Band.

The gala, to be held March 29 at Edgewater Beach Resort, will be a New York, New York theme with numerous items to be auctioned off, including an Orlando theme park trip, all to benefit Covenant Hospice.

Nanisa Anderson, Development and Communications Manager for Covenant Hospice, said her organization spends hundreds of thousands of dollars every year caring for people at the end of their life. She said they spent $220,000 just last year on indigent patients in Bay and Gulf counties.

The proceeds from the Mask Parade and Gala fund services not reimbursed by Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance. These services are the ones that Covenant Hospice offers to the local community at no charge. Programs include: indigent care, children’s support services, bereavement services, chaplain services and the volunteer program. The monies raised stay in the local area to help those in need. Nanisa Anderson said the event reached the $1 million mark in donations last year, every penny necessary and needed.

The challenge, she said, is finding a way to keep Covenant Hospice’s signature event and symbol, the mask, fresh and interesting enough to continue to draw community support into the future.

Everything about the parade and gala has evolved over the 12 years of its existence. The first time that participants were asked to create art from a simple ceramic mask, all but one simply painted the mask. The other artist incorporated the mask into a larger piece of work on canvas.

Today, that is more common.

“Over the years, attendees of our event have purchased masks to show their dedication to Covenant Hospice,” Anderson said. “The mask is a unique symbol to hang on the wall of their business or home which lets others know they personally support our organization.”

This year, participants in the gala and parade will see beautiful paintings in which the masks are subtle enhancements or flowing sculptures where the mask is the centerpiece. Of course, there are still just masks, including one signed by the cast members of Duck Dynasty.

Anderson said celebrity artists have become another vital part of the parade and gala, but that too has changed over time.

“Sometimes celebrity artists want to paint and autograph the mask themselves”, Anderson said. “We also give the celebrity the option of having a local professional artist create a design centered around their autograph. Since professional artwork brings in the highest funds, many times our guests prefer the celebrity masks that have a local artist’s flair and hometown tie.”

Nanisa Anderson says many of their celebrity artists are contacted through local connections. That was the case with the Duck Dynasty cast this year.

Even the parade has changed over the years. It used to be that the masks were hung in businesses along downtown Panama City so everyone could appreciate them and it would also create walk-in customers for these establishments. Some of the businesses were only open Monday through Friday and the masks were unable to be viewed during the high traffic times of the weekends. The Mask volunteer team had to rethink the logistics of the parade.

After some tinkering, Nanisa Anderson said, the masks now find themselves on display at the Main Street Gallery of Art on Harrison Avenue for two weeks prior to the gala.“The mission of Covenant Hospice is to provide comprehensive, compassionate services to patients and their loved ones during times of life-limiting illnesses, not matter what their financial situation may be,” Nanisa Anderson said. “We feel like it’s important to make the parade a community event, where everyone can appreciate the work of our local artists even if they don’t attend the gala.”

Why Support Covenant Hospice

Recently, 70 members of American Legion Post 392 gathered outside a local hospital to send off one of their own, Mark Long. Unit 392 Auxiliary President Rhonda Mansel said Long was a charter member of the post, motorcycle club and one of the organizers of the annual charity event to raise money for Covenant Hospice. He suffered a stroke during the charity event and a few weeks later he was given to Covenant Hospice’s care.

When it looked like Long wasn’t going to last much longer, his Post mates got together within two hours to convene at the hospital to say their goodbyes. A member of Covenant Hospice staff brought Long downstairs and out the door where his brethren were waiting. He was in a coma, so no words were exchanged.
Instead, 50 members revved their motorcycle engines, creating a cacophony they hoped he’d hear and knew he would appreciate. They sent him home with the roar of motorcycles in his ears.

This tribute couldn’t have happened without the people of Covenant Hospice and Covenant Hospice wouldn’t have been there for Long if it wasn’t for people like him and his friends. Mansel said the charity run, Long’s last, raised $5,392 for Covenant.

A Different Mask

Artist Lisa Hanna, owner of LH Beads Gallery on Harrison Avenue, is determined to outdo herself this year, as every year.

“It’s such a great cause. I could never do what they do,” she said of Covenant Hospice. “This is just a little part of what I can give back. My problem is I always have to go to extremes when I do things.”

Hanna likes sea scenes for her projects. Her first mask, six years ago, was a sea turtle. Last year, she used the mask as the belly of a seahorse. This year, the mask will be the face of a mermaid.

What stays the same is Hanna’s desire to outdo herself every year. Last year’s seahorse was her best effort, she said, and it sold for a good price. It was about three feet tall, with bead and wire work woven in. This year’s mermaid is five feet tall with even more beads and wire work.

The white and plain masks are being crafted by Glenda Carden, owner of Art Garden. She has poured and fired the masks by hand for 12 years. She does it herself, in a building behind her shop, even during the brutal days of summer. It takes time, but it’s done right and Carden asks for nothing in return. She has produced approximately 1,200 of the blank masks throughout the years.

“It’s a good thing to do,” she said, summing up her reasons for donating to Covenant Hospice and, indirectly, encapsulating Covenant Hospice itself. “Who else is gonna do it?”

Updates on the gala can be found at www.facebook.com/pages/Mask-Parade-Gala-Covenant-Hospice

By David Angier