Two years ago, Carolyn Nicolaysen rallied friends and family members to collect and donate homemade Christmas ornaments to families impacted by wildfires in Oregon, where her daughter lives.

Since then, Nicolaysen founded the Facebook group Operation Christmas Ornaments From Near and Far, and this year is collecting onaments from folks across the country to donate to Marshall Fire victims.

The group accepts handmade ornaments from across the country and beyond — they received one donation from Japan this year — and organizes them into dozen-each sets before working with local organizations to distribute the ornaments to affected families.

Carol Burton, a Colorado resident, is heading up the local charge to get ornaments to Marshall Fire victims this year, and said that she and Nicolaysen found that the sentimental value of Christmas ornaments makes losing them in a natural disaster especially painful.

“From with talking to people, one of the things people really missed after a disaster were their Christmas ornaments and all of the memories tied up in those,” Burton said.

The group – which now contains over 700 members — had a goal to collect 6,000 ornaments for 500 families impacted by the Marshall Fires. On Oct. 27, Nicolaysen posted to say that reached their goal for the year, but are still accepting donations of ornaments for Marshall Fire victims and victims of other tragedies, including the tornadoes that damaged parts of Kentucky last year.

Folks interested in donating or receiving Christmas ornaments can join the group by searching ‘Operation Christmas Ornaments from Near and Far’ on Facebook.