LOUISVILLE, Ky. — No one does Christmas decorations quite like the commonwealth and at Belmont Village St. Matthews, their decorations are raising money for a good cause.

The senior living community is raffling off hand-crafted bourbon staves.

“We were thinking about what can we do that’s truly Kentucky,” Chet Mitchell told Spectrum News.

“As part of our 25th anniversary, we decided to create a holiday raffle of bourbon staves… to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association,” Mitchell added. Mitchell is the Director of Activities and Memory Programs at Belmont Village.

The raffle is called, “Staves for the Holidays.” Designs range from the very traditional to festively animated. 

“Some of them are traditional with the evergreens and the hollies, whereas other ones are just very stand out as very unique staves,” Mitchell continued.

Belmont Village resident Jerry Dalton might know more about bourbon staves than anyone in the commonwealth. Dalton is formerly a master distiller for Jim Beam.

“I’ve personally knocked down probably several hundred barrels and examined each of the 35 or so staves in the barrel to see what caused leaks and how the whiskey penetrated, Dalton told Spectrum News.

Dalton knows so much about making bourbon he could write a book about it titled, “The Way of Bourbon.” “A down home description of the bourbon making process,” Dalton explained.

Not surprising, Dalton is throwing his full support behind “Staves for the Holiday,” and not only because of long his career in the bourbon industry.

“Support every bit of their work, I honestly do. My wife passed away and part of her illness was dementia,” Dalton said.

And with no cure for Alzheimer’s, the work is far from finished. Generosity takes many forms, but “Staves for the Holidays” is about as Kentucky Christmas as you can get.

Sixteen handcrafted bourbon staves were decorated and donated to Belmont Village by individuals and community partners to help raise money for the American Alzheimer’s Association.