I recently had the opportunity to use my sewing skills in a way that would benefit those in need. For the first part of my volunteer work I, plus many other women at my church, prepared and sewed about 100 pillowcase-sized fabric drawstring bags for a small charity project called Holiday Gift Bags. This family-run effort fills the bags with essentials such as toothpaste, wipes, packaged food, and more to hand out to local homeless on Christmas. The drawstring "gift" bag itself is a helpful item, as it also doubles as a clean, fresh place to store belongings, or even as a pillow once filled with soft items. We came in because the organization reports that they have little problem gathering the items to include in the bags as the effort has grown to include many students and staff at Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista, but run into trouble when it comes to procuring the bags themselves because purchasing something ready made of equal quality to a handmade bag is cost prohibitive. Fortunately, many of us can sew these relatively simple bags and were happy to do so.
For the second part of my volunteer work I hand-tied and finished three baby quilts, sewn by a group of women at church. My role was especially helpful as it is the most tedious and time-intensive part of the quilt making and the other women could instead focus on churning out more quilts this way. These quilts are made as an effort to provide, free of charge, warm and quality baby quilts to needy families who give birth at the naval medical center on Camp Pendleton. The recipient families are families who cannot otherwise afford the essentials that a baby requires, and the gift of a quilt not only keeps that baby warm and cozy (especially now that we're in the winter), but it also helps to free up funds so that the family can more easily afford needed items.
All told, the two projects spanned the course of several evenings and it's a nice feeling being able to produce durable goods that will help the daily lives of people in need.