A Montana custom-furniture carpenter recently decided to show his patriotic spirit and support for law enforcement by donating hand-carved American flags to law enforcement officers, military and front-line hospital workers. 

Bear Thomas used scrap wood from his shop, Whitedog Woodshop, to carve beautiful American flags and donate them to the community. 

“I started making flags and delivering to veterans of military, police and firefighters in Montana two years ago,” he told Fox News.

After witnessing the anti-police protests in 2020, Thomas wanted to do all he could to support the law enforcement community.

“I started at the beginning of 2020 when the police and military were under attack. I wanted to let them know there are still good people out there who support them,” he continued.

Since then, Thomas has only expanded his efforts. His flags come in different sizes, from 2’x3’ to 5’x8.’ The painstaking carving job can take up to 40 hours per flag. So far, he has donated 30 from his workshop in Missoula.

Thomas sells custom dining room tables, chairs, bar tops and cabinets, but the American flags are free. The time it takes to carve the flags reminds him of the sacrifices first responders and service members make for the country.

“I donate all my flags to whoever contacts me. My main focus was military but ventured off to the other frontline agencies over the past year,” Thomas explained.

His work has received an outpouring of support and many thanks from the community, with emails pouring in every day.

“I can’t believe how many people this has touched. I’ve had well over 600 emails with nothing but kind words of support, and I haven’t even gotten to all as they keep coming in,” he said.

Thomas continued: “I’ve been trying to respond to everyone personally. I was never expecting this, and I almost didn’t do the interview because I’m typically a pretty private person. But I’m glad I did now.”