Courtesy Photo | From left to right: Jalayah Chatman, 10, Mia Young, 10, volunteer Jalessa Robinson and...... read more read more
Delonte Harrod, Pentagram Staff Writer
JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. - A small group of children are learning to give back in a huge way during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. They are making standard-sized pillows for men, women and families who have escaped abuse.
Mary Griffin, a parent volunteer, thinks it is important for children in the Sewing Club at the Cody Child Development Center on the Fort Myer portion of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall to help out families and individuals at Sarah’s House Shelter, an organization under the umbrella of Catholic Charities.
“What I would like to instill in them is to give back,” said Griffin, who has been volunteering at the Cody Child Development Center on JBM-HH for several years.
At the after school program, the students can use this time to do something for someone else, she said.
Sarah’s House provides shelter for men, women and families, whose lives have been destroyed by domestic violence, for up to 90 days. While there, victims receive three meals a day, computer and job training.
A couple of months ago, according to a volunteer Jalessa Robinson, Paisley McKelvey, JBM-HH assistant director of JBM-HH Child, Youth and School Services, decided to start a sewing club, intended to teach the students a new skill.
Robinson said that kids often use their hands to play video games. But she and McKelvey wanted to teach them another skill, so they chose stitching.
On the club’s first day, Griffin said the students learned how to cut, pin and trace and then sew it. And because it was their first class, Griffin said it will take students about two days to make a single, standardized-size pillow.
McKelvey thought it was a good idea to use this sewing club as a tool to give back, she said. Because it is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, she contacted Sarah’s House. McKelvey asked Bruce Clopein, volunteer resource manager, at Sarah’s House what could they provide to help out.
“At the top of their list was pillows,” said McKelvey.
As individuals and families transition out of the program, employees at the organization see to it that they don’t leave empty handed, so they allow them to take the pillows with them.
Clopein said the pillows donated will be used to replenish the ones given away to individuals and families who have transitioned out of the shelter.
Robinson said, moving forward, their goal is to continue to participate by giving pillows to the Sarah’s House Shelter.
| Date Taken: | 10.22.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.22.2015 18:18 |
| Story ID: | 179691 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 46 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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