 |
April
21, 2005
|
 |
Parishioners
sew so that
homeless stay warm
|
|
Women’s
groups make sleeping bags
from recycled fabric |
|
|
|
|
MILWAUKEE
— Recycling benefits the homeless in outreach
projects of four Milwaukee area Catholic churches.
At All Saints and St. Matthias in Milwaukee, Good
Shepherd in Menomonee Falls, and St. Augustine
in West Allis, beneficiaries are numerous through
the sleeping bag ministry, including those who
clean out their closets.
Clean used blankets, quilts, bedspreads, sheets,
drapes, lengths of craft layered sleeping bags.
Most of them are donated to Repairers of the Breach,
a daytime homeless shelter in Milwaukee. The women
who produce the final product have the process
fine-tuned to just about an hour of work.
Fran Fryer has overseen the Keep Warm Quilters
(now Sleep Warm Quilters) in the 10 years since
it began at Good Shepherd Parish. Her co-chairman
is another veteran, Eileen Gibbs.
“We’re concerned,” Fryer said.
“The parish as a whole does quite a bit
of volunteering at Repairers of the Breach Mission
(providing bag lunches and discussing Scripture
with the men). We have warm beds to sleep in,
blankets to cover. Why shouldn’t others?
I go home just feeling good.”
Creating a sleeping bag
Fryer and Gibbs search a parish storage closet
for suitable material to color coordinate two
7-by-7 foot squares. Sometimes they may have one
quilt, bedspread or duvet that will provide the
outside; other times they will sew together several
pieces to make the large squares, but they usually
try to use a sheet on the innermost layer to ease
the person getting inside. Blankets, mattress
pads and similar material are layered to form
the padding between.
With the outer 7-foot square spread out across
several large tables, the women then place the
inside padding material, which could be one or
several pieces, to form an adequate cushion. They
top it with the second large square or bed sheet.
Then they run yarn ties through the layers, knotting
them securely, just as many quilts were made years
ago.
When this is accomplished, the materials are folded
in half with the outsides together. The actual
hand-sewing involves stitching along one of the
short ends and three-fourths of the long side
to form the bag. The opening edge is whip-stitched
closed. When this is completed, several of the
women work together to turn the entire bag inside
out to its finished side. The bag is then rolled
and tied with a man’s donated necktie. A
prayer tag is added, reading, “As you rest
in your sleeping bag, think of the warmth of the
love of God. Feel God’s love for you and
sleep in peace.”
After just a year, newcomer Rosemary d’Agostino
said, “It goes deeper than just quilts for
the poor. We get so much out of it ourselves.
The ladies are so nice, welcoming, and friendly,
just like I’ve been here all the time.”
Time goes fast as they joke, share news and discuss
church happenings, grandchildren, baking, shopping,
doctors, etc. Closet keepers are Lois Krahn and
Mary Jane Plutshack. Krahn and Carolyn Wanke also
provide knitted items and the women collect baby
clothes for Hope network. Lucy Filo, Joyce Griepentrog
and Lucille Daley complete the team.
All material is donated, including two sewing
machines.
They finish two or three sleeping bags every week.
One year someone donated huge bolts of gray fabric
that speeded the process. If members increased,
they could work on two at a time. Of the 630 sleeping
bags the group has made, 68 have been completed
since September 2004.
West Allis women recite
‘roll up prayer’
At St. Augustine Parish, the process is similar.
However, a new plastic shower curtain is added
inside the outermost fabric to provide a moisture
barrier. When a bag is finished, the women join
hands to say a Roll Up Prayer:
“Lord, take the work of our hands and bless
it; and in thy name let the person that receives
this gift know that he is loved. Amen.”
The prayer is enclosed with each sleeping bag
with the addition of another prayer: “Praise
to God who gives us warmth and rest. Glory to
God who gives us helping friends. May your Name
O God be blessed and honored forever. Amen.”
This group adds a warm hat, mittens, scarf, knit
by Dolores Rownd and Cathy Found, and socks in
the winter or a baseball cap, rain poncho and
socks in the summer in a plastic resealable bag
secured with a large safety pin.
Jackie Ellington has been in charge of the sleeping
bag ministry at St. Augustine’s since it
began in 1998. The project arose after their pastor,
Franciscan Fr. Lawrence Frankovich, suggested
that all parish groups do something special for
the parish’s 70th anniversary that fall
that would carry over until the 75th anniversary.
Monica Jerich and Cathie Werle, also original
members, sew the shells to ready them for the
inside stuffing and tying that the entire group
participates in. Other members include Diane Deakin,
Dorothy Dujmovic, Helen Karnowski, Gemma Jacobson,
Dorothy Pinter and Grace Weisner.
Over 30 bags made yearly
They finish an average of 35 bags a year, completing
number 253 at their last March meeting. But all
is not work. They share coffee and doughnuts at
their first and third Tuesday meetings, go out
to lunch to mark their June anniversary, celebrate
Easter and Christmas with get-togethers and “solve
the problems of the world,” according to
Ellington.
If donated items are in almost-new condition,
these are given directly to nearby shelters. When
supplies get low, a bulletin notice brings donations
from parish members. Some groups also collect
hotel soaps, shampoo, rosaries and give them in
bulk to the shelters. A member’s husband
appealed to the West Allis Rotarians for necktie
donations and also received $1,000 to help with
supplies or to give to the shelter.
The All Saints, BAGS (Blessed and Giving Serving)
has been chaired by Mary Ann Harris the last four
years to keep the project going in that parish.
Two women no longer at the parish originally demonstrated
the process to Good Shepherd and St. Augustine.
The All Saints group is small and depends on help
from St. Mark’s AMA church and seniors at
Servite Woods to make three or four sleeping bags
a month for Repairers of the Breach.
Harris relates the story of a black woman who
donated several old quilts after cleaning out
her deceased grandmother’s closets. When
someone from the church took these to be cleaned,
the proprietor suspected they might be valuable
and refused to touch them. Assistance from the
Milwaukee Art Center traced the quilts to slavery
days and a special display was set up for these
historical works too valuable to be recycled.
St. Matthias Parish in Milwaukee started to make
sleeping bags for the homeless about three or
four years ago after co-chairwoman Millie Schilling
found the idea in a magazine and brought the suggestion
to the human concerns committee. With parish nurse
Sharon Durski as co-chair, a group of about 14
meet once a month and usually make eight bags
in four and a half hours. Their sleeping bags
are donated to Cathedral Center, Casa Maria, Hope
House and Repairers of the Breach. One year they
sent 25 to Mexico.
“You really don’t have to know how
to sew. The shelters are always so grateful,”
Durski said. |
|
|
|
