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EDEN — Driving from his home in Greensboro to the orthopedic practice in Eden where he works has opened Dr. Rod Mortenson’s eyes to some of the problems in the community.

Shuttered businesses. High unemployment rates. People struggling to feed their families.

Mortenson knew exactly what Eden needed — Christmas balls.

Yes, you heard right.

Apparently nothing stirs up good will and amps up the Christmas spirit like 50 or 60 giant chicken-wire balls covered with a couple hundred multi-colored, miniature lights.

But don’t take Mortenson’s word for it. Come see for yourself.

It all begins at dusk on Tuesday evening. That’s when folks at Morehead Memorial Hospital, the site of the Christmas ball display, will flip the switch on the 12,000 lights that adorn 60 Christmas balls hanging from an oak tree near the hospital entrance.

When you visit, you’re asked to bring nonperishable food items, which will be collected in a trailer near the tree, then donated to The Lord’s Pantry, an Eden food distribution ministry.

And that’s where the good will part comes in.

“You share the idea, then you get out of the way,” Mortenson says.

If he’s right, you just might find yourself swinging by to look at that tree again and again, each time with more cans of green beans, boxes of macaroni and cheese, and jars of peanut butter. It seems to be the effect Christmas balls have on people.

Mortenson’s a believer because he’s seen what’s happened over the past decade in his own neighborhood, the Sunset Hills area of Greensboro. His street — Ridgeway Drive — offers up one of Greensboro’s biggest and most talked about Christmas light displays. And it all started with a couple of Christmas balls.

About 15 years ago, Mortenson’s neighbors, Jonathan and Anne Smith, along with their daughter, who found the plans for the balls, made a few and hung them in their trees. Faster than a team of reindeer, it caught on and, well … snowballed.

Within a few years, most of the residents on Ridgeway Drive were making and hanging similar balls. The Smiths starting holding workshops to teach folks how to roll and mash chicken wire into bigger-than-basketball-sized orbs, then cover them with lights.

People began coming to Ridgeway Drive by the carloads to see the holiday spectacle. And that’s when that magic started. They harnessed that holiday spirit and put it to work for the community.

The neighbors put out a trailer and asked people to donate canned goods for Greensboro Urban Ministry and Second Harvest Food Bank. A ministry was born: “Shine the Light on Hunger.”

Last year, they collected more than 4,000 cans of food.

Mortenson believes that same holiday magic will happen in Eden.

With Jonathan Smith and some other Sunset Hills neighbors, Mortenson led a workshop at the hospital in November to make 60 balls to adorn the tree at Morehead.

“The hospital is a big part of this community. It needs to be a point of light and a point of hope,” Mortenson says.

Before the first ball was made, some of that magic already was stirring. Tractor Supply in Eden donated the chicken wire. Then, a bucket truck, needed to hang the balls in the tree, almost appeared out of nowhere — just when Ed Holbrook, the hospital’s foundation director, was looking for one to help with the project.

Shawn Bowers of Bowers Contracting in Eden was happy to use his truck and donate his services.

Just the fact that nearly 60 people showed up to help make balls was a little miraculous, too.

And Mortenson says we haven’t seen anything, yet.

He emphasizes that it’s more than just a light display. “Yes, it’s pretty but this is a project that has legs,” he says.

Jonathan Smith knows all about that.

In the past four years, the Sunset Hills project has collected 15,000 cans of food and $14,000 in contributions.

But sometimes it’s the smallest gifts that mean the most.

Like the person who donated their bag lunch — half a sleeve of saltine crackers and a couple cans of beans and franks.

And then there’s a card that Smith keeps in his wallet, folded in eighths, so it can slide in next to his credit cards. From the mounds of donated items, he found the card in a white paper bag decorated with a child’s drawings and filled with snacks. It reads: “Turn all your worries over to God for he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7.

And it all starts with a few dozen Christmas balls. “We’re putting a stake in the ground here,” Mortenson says.

“We’re going to change some lives.”

Contact Myla Barnhardt at 627-4881, Ext. 116, or myla.barnhardt@news-record.com.