Greg Germani holds up a wreath made out of a vinyl record. Photo by Dan Whisenhunt

It’s been more than two years since a man in a red Dodge Nitro intentionally ran over cyclist Greg Germani, disabling him for the rest of his life.

During his recovery, Germani has begun recycling old vinyl records, turning them into Christmas wreaths. That’s expanded into jewelry, coasters and notebooks, all made from reused vinyl records and album covers. He’s sold of these items from the front yard of his Decatur home. Decaturish Editor and Publisher Dan Whisenhunt owns one of his notebooks. It’s easy to carry around while reporting and it looks sweet, too.

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Germani’s girlfriend, Beth Harrill, has decided to move Germani’s operation online. She’s established an Etsy store, VinylUpcycleGeorgia, with proceeds going to pay for Germani’s medical expenses.

“Greg is a tremendous vinyl record enthusiast,” the Etsy store listing says. “Throughout his recovery, music has been a great source of therapy.”

People interested in buying Germani’s products can do so by visiting:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/vinylupcyclegeorgia

To follow the store on Facebook, visit:

https://www.facebook.com/vinylupcyclegeorgia/

In June 2014, Germani was riding his bike home from work when he got into an argument with a man driving a red Dodge Nitro, Joseph Alan Lewis. Following the argument, Lewis came back and hit Germani with the vehicle, leaving him for dead.

Lewis in 2015 pleaded guilty to some of the charges related to that incident and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In a 2016 interview with Decaturish, Germani said he’s thankful for the life that he has under the circumstances.

He said, “I’m a big looker at the big picture and I see people sometimes who have unbelievable hardships to deal with and they just go about their day and that’s what I try to do, is remember that yeah, sometimes it’s a tough thing I’ve got to deal with but, all in all in life, I’ve had it pretty damn good.”

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