Heather Ainsley
ECB Publishing, Inc.
A group of nine local women are striving to make a difference in their community by getting together each week to participate in a sewing-based charity project. They call the group Sew Blessed, and for the last five years, the women have used their collective sewing skills to create clothing for children, which they distributed while visiting other countries on medical missionary trips. During these trips, the women would make dresses and other clothes for the children that lived in the areas. When the Pandemic hit in 2020, however, all traveling ceased, and the group began to focus on ways they could help bring comfort to children a little closer to home.
Group member Betty Bard says that the idea for their latest outreach project actually came from a conversation with her son, who works for law enforcement in South Florida. While speaking to her son one day, Betty was told about a local organization in his area that made blankets and teddy bears to give to the deputies so that they could distribute them to children who had suffered great stress.
There are many situations that law enforcement respond to that can be extremely stressful on a child. This stress can come as a result of a traumatic crime, domestic abuse, car accidents, witnessing a medical emergency, a home invasion or a house fire. The gifts given by law enforcement, while they cannot erase the stress of the situation, can provide a child with comfort and a sense of security in a confusing and intimidating time in their life.
The women of Sew Blessed liked the idea, and decided to begin creating handmade quilts, which they donate regularly to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to be distributed by Marie Rigdon, the Victim Services Practitioner, to the deputies, who keep them in their vehicles while they work in the community. The quilts are relatively small, says Betty, as they are intended for children. They are usually about 40 inch squares, but sometimes they are made to be a little longer, about 50 inches long. The women of Sew Blessed have already donated three batches of quilts to the Sheriff's Office, adding up to around 115 quilts in total.
“It takes us three months to make a batch of 40 or so,” says Betty, “We really enjoy getting together to work on them. It's more than just great community service, it's also a great social aspect for us. It’s a way for us to help bring comfort to children, and we have a good time getting together.”
The majority of the women in Sew Blessed are retired nurses, and after their latest donation of quilts to the Sheriff's office, the ladies have shifted their focus toward a different community need: nursing centers.
“We currently have about twenty quilts that we have finished,” said Betty, “We would really like to have twice that amount before we donate them to a nursing center down on North 19.”
The quilts are made with cotton fabric that members of Sew Blessed have either received as a donation or have on hand in their own homes. The group loves to get fabric donations, and asks that anyone who wishes to donate fabric donate cotton fabric that is clean. While they are currently working on quilts that will go to nursing centers, they do often use child-friendly patterns with superheroes, etc, when making the quilts to be given to the children. Anyone wishing to donate fabric can call the Saint Margaret Catholic Church at (850) 973-2428, and ask for Carrie.