 A project that began after working with the Grand Rapids Police Reserves has turned into one woman's calling since 1997. For this week's in focus, Haiti Clowder shows us how a local artist pays respect to members of law enforcement who die in the line of duty every year. Mary Corwin is an artist who at times is working on several projects. She calls one in particular her labor of love and passion. Corwin creates ornaments to honor police officers and canines who were lost in the line of duty across the United States. I didn't want the officers like hanging donuts on the tree or something so we came up with the idea to make ornaments honoring them. So that's what we've been doing it every year since then. It started 20 years ago and Corwin is notified when an officer or canine dies. She gets information like their name and department from a memorial page. Corwin takes each loss personal. So far this year we've lost 100 officers and I think 17 canines. They say that slightly down from last year by a couple percentages but everyone lost is one too many. Mary does about 150 ornaments each year that's almost 3000 total since she first began. There's not a year that goes by that I don't rig down at some point but they're my family the the boys here at the Grand Rapids Police Department they know I'm their mom. Corwin has used different shapes in the past. This year's ornament has a blue line that is a symbol of law enforcement's commitment to protect others. They're painted but I do the lettering and this one of our sergeants families help me tie the ribbons on. Bill Litchke spent about 25 years with the Grand Rapids Police Department. His contribution to the project is cutting out the ornaments. He says the cards and letters from the families giving thanks are priceless. It's an awful shame that we have to lose these officers but it's nice to know that they're people that appreciated the job they did and that we care about the families of those officers. Every year the ornaments are sent to the officer or canines department along with a letter from the Grand Rapids Police Chief and a request that the ornament be passed along to the family. We have a saying in law enforcement the saying is we shall never forget and this is just our way of remembering those that have made the ultimate sacrifice. Some of the losses hit close to home since 1997 Corwin has made seven ornaments for officers from the Grand Rapids Police Department. During the holidays a tree with all of the ornaments is on display. In Grand Rapids, Hady Clodder, Lakeland News. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.