Vancouver ornament maker thankful to Amazon workers who found lost shipment

A local business owner who makes Vancouver-inspired Christmas ornaments is celebrating after she was reunited with a shipment of hand-crafted decorations that had initially been lost in transit.

Rhonda Nowak, the founder of Vancouver Christmas Ornaments, first took to social media on Monday, saying UPS had “lost a box of 100 of my Vancouver Special ornaments.”

“They mis-delivered them to the Amazon Centre warehouse in Delta (4189 Salish Way) and have now decided they would rather pay me out than do the extra work of locating them,” she said on a public Facebook post.

She tells CityNews because the package wasn’t an Amazon shipment to begin with, her box wasn’t in that company’s system.

“This is a year-long process for me to get these ornaments created and handmade for me and [shipped] to me. So I don’t want to be paid out, I want my box of ornaments, I know where they are, but they refused to tell me, confirm that they’re actually there,” Nowak recalled, adding her husband even went to the Amazon warehouse to see if he could make any headway.

So, Nowak decided to turn to social media. In her posts, she pleaded for anyone who works at the Delta Amazon warehouse to “be the hero in this story.”

“Two of them saw it and both of them called me and immediately got on the ball to find the ornaments for me. They hand-delivered them tonight at my door at 7:30,” she said in an interview Tuesday night.

“I was just amazed … I’ve just been so thankful, and I gave them each ornaments. They refused to take them but I gave them and they’re going to pay for them anyhow. They’re just quality people who went out of their way I am just so thankful. I can’t say enough,” Nowak added of the two Amazon workers.

The ornaments are shaped like Vancouver Specials — unique two-storey, split brick on the bottom and stucco on the top, architectural designed homes often seen around the city.

Nowak created the design, which is then made by another company that specializes in glass ornaments. She says when she gets them, she paints on some additional details to make them more unique. She operates her business from home and relies heavily on shipping companies to get her products both to her and to her customers.

Now, Nowak says it’s crunch time to get all the finishing touches done on the box of decorations she’s been reunited with before Christmas — but she’s confident they’ll be ready.

“I’ve got a few more late nights to pull to get these all finished up. I actually accidentally oversold them to 14 customers before I got this last box, so I’m really thankful that I’m going to be able to fulfill those orders,” she said, adding she also has a waitlist of more than 100 customers for the Vancouver Specials.

“These will all be gone as soon as I post them.”

Nowak does have other Vancouver-related ornaments up for sale, including some in the shape of Dogwoods, Canuck the Crow, and the Woodwards Tower.

“I hope that these ornaments just bring a little bit of joy to people. They’re meant to be mementos and reminders of this city, this beautiful place that we call home. I hope that these bring memories to people every year when they put them on their Christmas tree and that they bring a little bit of joy.”