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It is the rare seamstress who has NOT turned a needle toward the benefit of those in sudden, dire need. And that is exactly what Margaret "Peg" MacKenzie, Church World Service (CWS) contact on the Outreach Committee of the Lansing United Methodist Church (LUMC), is counting on as she coordinates the assembly of various kits for the smallest victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Along with asking for items to include in health and school kits, Peg has spread the word for a few good helpers who can "stitch a fine seam". It is the school kits that require the assistance of a seamstress, because the paper, pencils, and other school supplies being gathered up for the children of all ages who have been displaced out of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are supposed to be inside a sturdy tote bag. That's why seamstresses are in such great demand right now.
Peg estimates that fully half of her school kits start with the tote bags she retrieves from LUMC’s biannual rummage sales. After volunteers sew on pockets and closures (Velcro, snaps or buttons), the bags are filled with the donated school supplies. Other volunteers prefer to sew completely new bags, but "That's all right. They're all useful".
The McKenzie family has long been connected with CWS and its tote bags. Her late mother, Betty, was the CWS contact at LUMC for many years, the volunteer job Peg now handles. Her mother, sisters and cousin have all sewn tote bags. A brother delivers the kits to a pick up depot. A skilled knitter, Peg has also turned out numerous afghans and sweaters for the baby kits. All year long talented relatives, friends, neighbors, and parishioners bring in their stitched, knitted, crocheted and quilted donations to add to the boxes of packaged goods, until her 1835 era home takes on the air of a warehouse as the normal spring collection date approaches. She is sometimes astonished with the quantity of donations. She exclaims, "June Darfler just brought me 42 baby sweaters!"
While Peg MacKenzie may not admit to actively recruiting seamstresses, she certainly appreciates their efforts.
So does May Arnett. She's the Program Assistant at Church World Service Upstate New York Office, (the organization is based in Elkhart, Indiana) who said Wednesday she'd been on the phone all day "trying to find local sewers" because "CWS needs as many of the tote bags as can be made by an October 12 collection date -"a thousand, two thousand, well, we could use thousands!"
Noting that CWS does its traditional drive to collect kits in the spring, this special appeal for Hurricane Katrina is the second for 2005. The Tsunami and the regular distribution of the Spring Appeal nearly depleted the CWS warehouse in New Windsor, Maryland, making this second appeal necessary.
For the traditional spring drive, Rebecca Cardina, CWS Coordinator for the Ithaca Area, sends out a letter in February, a reminder in April and "It's an act of faith that we will get kits, but every year, they always show up". According to this 4th grade teacher, "CWS is the ecumenical Red Cross for situations like this (hurricane).
However, Cardina says she was so apprehensive that she was a nervous wreck the first couple years she served as Ithaca area coordinator, but relaxed after she realized the donors are "Totally loyal. They just show up with their boxes". Illustrating that loyalty, Rebecca checked the 2005 records to report that the total number of school kits collected from the Ithaca area this past spring were 201. Of that number, 96 came from Lansing seamstresses
Another thing about seamstresses: they never rest on their laurels. Peg reports 50 tote bags have already been stitched together for the October 12 Hurricane Katrina victims collection.
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