Women on a Mission

There is a woman named Rose who is a wonderful character about town here.  At 78 she's a little bent over when she walks, has a perpetual smile on her face and usually wear's an odd assortment of shorts and t-shirts.


Rose is a very generous woman.  Although she lives on a very limited income she is always finding ways to give back to the community.  Just ask Rose about a project to benefit others and she is always there to lend a helping hand or to organize reluctant friends to pitch in.


Recently Rose became involved with a local nursing home serving 161 souls.  This is a place, where but for the grace of God, and a lifetime of saving, go many of us.  Near the ends of their lives many of these people never get any visitors and have no financial resources after paying the fees associated with their care.  Its a small community with many needs.


To solve two issues at the same time Rose was encouraged by her church to make wheel chair and walker bags for the residents.  As part of the process, she is also encouraging other members of her church to visit with the residents when the bags are being distributed.


Visiting can be tough for some people but making bags.....anyone can help with that project.


Enter the Women on a Mission.


Rose approached me about the instructions for making wheel chair bags and I saw that this was going to be a relatively huge project.  There are 91 people using walkers and 10 using wheel chairs at the home.  That's a lot of bags!!!!


Saturday, during Strip Club, one of us cut out 20 wheel chair bags... enough to cover the current need with a few extras.


Today five of us gathered to begin cutting out the walker bags.  I would like us to have at least one hundred kits put together before we start sewing with more being the goal rather than less.


We cut and assembled about SEVENTY of these kits (a kit being cut-to-size fabric for the body and handles of one bag) today in about two hours!!


We are going to meet one more time, on Thursday afternoon, to cut some more bags and I have high expectations that we will more than meet the one hundred bag goal.


Then next Friday we will gather to figure out the most efficient way to make these bags.  They are slightly more complex to put together than the wheel chair bags and I hope we can get a smooth assembly line figured out.


I don't expect we will get much done but there will be one final big sewing day at Rose's church with church members, guild members and anyone else we can drag into this project, to make the majority of the bags and get them together to go to the home.


I am so impressed with all of these people.  A need was expressed, someone saw a way to fill the need, others ransacked their stashes for fabric (I even bit the bullet and donated a bolt of fabric I have not used in over ten years even though I loved it!) I organized the cutting days, someone else has organized a preliminary sewing day and someone else will organize the BIG sewing day. 


Women on a Mission... without them this world would be a poorer place.