BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Just in time for the holidays, there's a collection of ornaments in Brevard County that not only would look good on your tree and bring attention to the county’s historic locations but also helps victims of domestic violence, creates awareness about human trafficking, and provides scholarships to empower women.


What You Need To Know

  • Brevard woman's photos help with ornament creation

  • Ornaments show historic Brevard sites

  • Project helps raise funds for group that aids violence, trafficking victims

  • Organization helped Sandy Michelson get new outlook on life

Sandy Michelson joined the Zonta club almost 30 years ago and has looked at the world through a new lens since then because in 1999 a fundraising idea came to fruition.

For more than 20 years, Michelson has gone around town taking pictures of historic places in the Brevard County, and Massachusetts artists have turned them into elaborate ornaments. 

“Being a domestic violence survivor,” she said. “It's one of those things, Zonta has helped me grow.

“No big trick there, just went out with my camera phone and shot pictures from different angles,” Michelson explained. “It's one of those things we had no idea that it would keep going on for 22 years. We were just hoping for a few years, [but] we kept finding things and stayed local until we expanded to all of Brevard County.”

Places like Kennedy Space Center’s rocket garden, Cocoa Village Playhouse, and the Melbourne Beach pier have made the cut. Every year, a new collectible ornament is created just in time for the holiday season, and this year, the Little Red School House is showcased. 

“Just like Green Gables, it was to raise awareness that they are trying to save that historic building,” she added. 

Hundreds of ornaments make their way across the country and have become a collectible item showcasing the best of the best of the Space coast. 

Zonta of Melbourne also benefits and helps out the local domestic violence shelter with toiletries, clothes, and lives recaptured, which helps human trafficking survivors. You can find the ornaments at Meehan's in downtown historic Melbourne.