Community Service Sewing

The last weeks and months have been among the strangest many of us have ever encountered—so very much of our daily lives have been up-ended and as we survey our neighborhoods, city, state, country and world. It is obvious there are more needs and more opportunities to contribute than ever before.

Our formal chapter Community Service projects continue, although both have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. I have been in touch with our contact for the Providence High-Risk Maternity project and they are enthusiastic and appreciative that we already have bags ready for them. However, as you may imagine, they have asked that we defer delivery until things become a bit more stabilized. I will be in touch with them again in mid-May to see if they are ready to receive the bags we have completed. They serve nearly 500 patients per year, so our shelter-in-place time is an excellent opportunity to make a few and get a bit ahead of the need. Directions for the bags are on the Community Service page. Once you’ve made one, I find it takes a half-hour or so to whip one out. It makes a great break from a more complex or challenging (or frustrating!) project. You only need a half-yard of fabric or two fat quarters for the bag; drawstrings can be made from either the same or contrasting fabric.

We also can continue to support the St. Vincent’s Passage Quilts Project. They, unfortunately, had to cancel the annual sew-in day scheduled for April 18, but we can also work on these at home. Again, the directions are on the Community Service page of our website (just click the link). They request quilts or quilt tops that will finish at about 48″x 60″, made from cotton fabrics. If you’d like to sew one (or more!) but don’t have the needed fabric, get in touch with me and I’ll see what we can do about getting kits from the Passage Quilt coordinator.

Finally, I imagine almost everyone has been making masks. While I can’t say they are my favorite sewing project ever, it does make me feel great to know I’m doing something to help someone in this difficult time. I just received an e-mail from the Providence organization which contained a link to a number of community organizations that have requested masks for their employees, residents and clients. I asked them if they would like to have this information posted on our member website and their response was “Fantastic!” As soon as I have received the link it will be added to the Community Service page.  Many of the groups on the list serve very vulnerable populations and masks will make a real difference for them.

As always, I know our individual members have been working on a variety of projects and activities to support our community in this strange and challenging time. Once again, we remember:

Sewing brings care and comfort to all life’s challenges and celebrations

This time certainly counts as one of the challenges. Stay calm and keep sewing!

Linda Cadzow
Community Service