DALLAS, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A wind phone recently added to a local hiking trail to help community members connect with lost loved ones has been vandalized. The woman behind the news shared it on social media.
Tara Yamelski from Shavertown shared on Facebook Monday night photos of her damaged wind phone, and the response has been overwhelming shock.
"I was devastated, like many people were," Dallas resident Karen Fry explained.
Fry gave her reaction when she learned the back mountain trail's wind phone was vandalized.
"It seemed like such a precious thing, and it almost felt like a violation to us for somebody to do that," Fry continued.
The wind phone is a method for handling grief, allowing people to call their lost loved ones.
It was dedicated less than a month ago, and its impact on the community was visible not long after.
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"A lot of people don't realize until they see something like that, this is an opportunity that they didn't realize they had to talk with somebody, and I think, for a lot of people, it was very cathartic to be able to have some words with that person they loved," Fry added.
The woman behind it, Yamelski, dedicated it to her late mother. She explained last month how much she appreciated the positive feedback.
"I was inundated with messages of people just saying 'thank you for doing this,' and 'I'm going to call my mom. I'm going to call my son, I'm going to call my daughter, my cousin, my friend.' Whoever it was, so, I think it's just like a humbling kind of feeling to know that what my vision was meant to be is actually coming to life," Yamelski told 28/22 News.
Many people who have used the wind phone say they never expected something like this to happen to something so heartfelt.
"I mean, there's a lot of damage being done to things, but something like this, I just didn't realize. But, I guess there's always people that feel the need to do something like this for whatever reason," said Fry.
The community is hoping to see the wind phone return to the trail to continue leaving an impact on those who need it.
"Maybe this time it will stay for a lot longer, and I just hope that there will be a rebirth of it," Fry stated.
More than 100 people commented under theFacebook post, sharing their outrage and sadness, and many expressed interest in helping Yamelski fix her wind phone.
