Building Peace and Connection One Paper Crane at a Time

Last fall, members of First Congregational UCC in Grand Marais wondered together how they might stay connected through the pandemic, beyond online worship. Rev. Enno K. Limvere, the congregation’s Designated Pastor, remembered the story of 1,000 cranes, based on a young girl’s life in Hiroshima.

“I got to thinking about the fact that an estimated 250,000 people died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was about how many people in this country had died of Covid at the time,” Rev. Limvere says. “I thought the story could help us learn how to talk to our kids about death and disruption. And luckily, I remembered from my college days as a camp counselor how to make paper cranes.”

The idea took hold and through weekly Zoom calls and a YouTube video, families learned how to make their own paper cranes. Members delivered 30-40 cranes per week and one fourth grader was inspired to make 95 of them. In the end, the church reached its goal of filling the sanctuary with the peace and presence of the 1,000 beautiful paper cranes!