The Singer is mightier than the sword. Via menteblu61 @ Flickr.
Last night I was reading the news online and came upon an item about Phyllis Schafly. Naturally, I scrolled past it as fast as I could, and in doing so, landed on a story that was about as far from Phyllis’s hatemongering as you can get.
For the past 13 months, 82-year old Alice Fogg has been at her sewing machine in Naples, Maine, making pillows for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan hospitals.
Fogg has a friend whose son was a nurse in a military hospital in Afghanistan where there were some 1,000 wounded soldiers. So she had an exact address where she could send the pillows she makes by hand, sometimes using a 100-year-old Singer treadle sewing machine. She has made some 1,600 pillows so far. Many times, the pillows are used to comfort wounded soldiers who must make a 10-hour trip from Afghanistan to a medical facility in West Germany.
Fogg has received many notes and cards from doctors, nurses, chaplains and soldiers. Air Force Lt. Col. Dr. B. Williams wrote, “Your homemade pillows made an experience for many young men and women more tolerable.”
Fogg says she will make the pillows as long as she is able. “I feel like I am worthwhile. I am doing something that’s good, not just sitting around,” she said.
God(ess) bless this awesome lady. She reminds me of my own grandparents. Both are tremendously skilled with their hands, and for as long as they were physically able, they put those skills to use for humanity; Grandma sewed quilts for homeless shelters and grandpa built cabinets in his basement workshop for Habitat houses. It’s a tangible, simple, immediate form of activism that I find more inspiring than simply writing an 8-figure check (although I certainly ain’t knocking them). There are some amazing charities whose mission is making things for others and infusing them with your goodwill and lovingkindness, like the Shawl Ministry, founded by a feminist spiritual collective, and afghans for Afghans, which sends hand-knits to Afghan schools and refugee centers (MamaSharper knits hats for them).
Are there any charities or activists whose stories/mission inspire you? Anything that you do yourself that in its own small way makes you feel like you’re doing good for humankind?
There is real pleasure and all kinds of good things to be derived from skilled manual labor and “artesania”. Sometimes I feel a little jealous of people whose work produces a tangible thing that will go out into the world. Cheers to those who are craftspeople.
And more on topic, the woman who is the head seamstress for the AIDS quilt, Gert McMullin, is an inspiration.
I knit and crochet so I have given blankets to the Snuggle Project, which supplies blankets to animal shelters. I’ve also made items for Warm Up America – I believe they were 7 x 9 squares which you can then take to Michael’s and volunteers piece them together into blankets for people in need. There is a book called Knitting for Peace that outlines a bunch of great charities for which you can knit.
It’s not quite the same thing, but I used to know about a group of people in Atlanta who gave pedicures to homeless folk. I know it sounds stupid, but these people are on their feet all day, many have diabetes and circulatory problems. I think they were attached to a shelter or work center or something so it wasn’t like they were ignoring their more basic needs for food and housing, but I always liked that hands on aspect of it, like it acknowledged the dignity of the people they were serving.
Most of my skills are around food preserving, but unfortunately, we’re not allowed to donate preserves to the food bank as my kitchen and I are not certified food safe (BC, Canada, may be different elsewhere). Once I live somewhere with a garden again I will be permitted to donate fresh food, though.
I do fund raising for my local food bank though.
I wouldn’t know where to begin – there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of charities here in New Orleans doing amazing things for the city and its inhabitants. New Orleans would not be rebuilt even to the levels it is today without the time, energy, and money devoted by the tens of thousands of local and out-of-town volunteers who have done everything from gutting houses, cleaning yards of abandoned houses, caring for abandoned pets, donating musical instruments for schoolchildren who lost theirs during Katrina, building low-cost housing for musicians and other low-income residents, volunteering in schools, etc etc etc. I don’t do as much as I’d like; that whole grad school thing tends to keep a woman’s time occupied. But I have participated in clean-up krewes (picking up flood-related debris off the streets in the first year post-K) and do environmental education with city kids at some local schools.
I do a few different volunteer activities – Planned Parenthood and local arts events mostly – but last year I knit several little hats for the neonatal intensive care unit in the hospital where I work. The babies there are often too small for the standard-issue hospital hats, and I had heard some families say that knowing a stranger took the time to make a handknit hat for their wee one brought a smile to their face during a tough time.
I also did a project called “Serve the City” last year. It brought together several different churches and denominations to do service projects around town. I got to experience two interesting things – first, a very musical and energetic service at an African-American downtown church (new to this WASP) and then we served breakfast to the homeless. We were all stationed in one area, and people weren’t finding us, so a few of us packed up a bunch of the food, drove to a park where lots of homeless folks gather, and just served food and talked with the men and women there. Some were regulars, some were just passing through, some were chatty and some just wanted to be left alone. We stayed until the food was gone. These were people who I might have walked past any other day, but because I was with a group (so I wasn’t nervous about encountering strange men) and had a purpose (serving food) it gave me entry into the community they had built in that park, and I learned a bit about the culture of the homeless folks in my own town. I had a similar experience on Thanksgiving when the boyfriend and I volunteered to serve at the community dinner. Both were a step outside of my usual volunteer jobs with arts and fundraising, and I’d like to repeat the experience soon.
This is not something I’ve done (yet), but when my mom was terminally ill recently, I was completely amazed by the goodness and generosity of the hospice volunteers who came to her home. They would come and chat with her, read to her, sing songs, bring snacks — they gave her a way to socialize with friendly people who weren’t torn apart emotionally by seeing her on her deathbed. I hope that one day, when I have some more distance from her death, I’ll be able to volunteer to do the same.
@JDRegent: That doesn’t sound stupid at all…in fact, there’s something that’s wonderfully kind and caring about washing someone else’s feet (presumably the reason it shows up repeatedly in Christianity).
I am a big fan of Habitat for Humanity, despite the fact that I am ridiculously un-handy. I like being able to DO things, like paint or install flooring. Thinking of the people who will live in those rooms or walk on those floors is very rewarding, and I feel like I’m sending out good vibes when I do it.
My church helps restore and build churches for other congregations, particularly for churches with small congregations or with congregants who don’t have the money to fix or build their own. It’s barn-raising, but with houses of worship!
I don’t really have “skills”, but I’ve spent several summers as a teen and adult working with organizations that helped distribute goods, and I am an excellent sorter/cataloguer of objects.
Honestly, the one “small” thing I do is just saying yes whenever the people at the D’Agostinos grocery store ask if I’d like to give seventy-five cents — or whatever it may be — to the current organization (such as Meals on Wheels) they’re helping support when I’m checking out. I may not have a job, but hell if I can’t spare a dollar or two.
The bravest, most inspiring people I ever met are the people who set up a needle exchange here. This was in the late 90′s, when it was becoming clear that HIV was moving from gay men to IV drug users and their sex partners. But education and harm reduction methods weren’t going where they needed to go; gay men tended to be a lot easier to educate and reach than junkies. So two people here decided to find them and get them what they needed.
They set up with a card table and some syringes, alcohol wipes and cookers one Sunday in a fairly iffy part of town. When they showed up, the people in the neighborhood were pretty suspicious-not many white people hang out there for any length of time. The first week they got one guy. Then next week they got a few more, and soon it was a success. Now our exchange is a funded, county-sanctioned organization, reaching the very hardest people to reach and succeeding because they give users what they need with no red tape and no judgments. They are my heroes.
Um, since when is sewing not a patriarchal practice? And sewing in support of the military-industrial complex? WTF? Friday Fun = supporting Amerikan imperialism and patriarchy. Good to know.
I used to make blankets for Project Linus. They provide security blankets for children who are traumatized or are undergoing painful medical procedures. As someone with a highly medicalized childhood, I know the difference a little something special (even a paperback) makes for a kid having surgery.
When I can, I donate to the Bears for Bears project, which puts teddy bears into police cars. These are given to children in need.
@RadFemDisco: Um…you’re missing the point entirely. You may not like the military industrial complex–it doesn’t have any fans at Harpyness, either–but wounded soldiers deserve compassion. They are victims of imperialist war-mongering too. If someone is kind enough to make pillow to lessen their pain, why the fuck would you bitch about that? You apparently prefer ideology over human decency.
As for whether sewing makes women tools of the Patriarchy, if you are a regular reader of this site, you will have read what I (and many of our commenters) think about sewing/knitting/cooking and other traditionally female skills, so I’m not going to rehash that here.
Instead of criticizing and then storming off in a huff, why don’t you tell us what form of compassionate activism is inspiring to you?
@radfemdisco: if by “patriarchial practice” you mean “highly marketable job skill” then yes, that’s what sewing is. My mother is a union-card carrying garment worker who supported a family of five with her sewing. She may have been a patriarchial dupe to you, but I think you sound like a snide elitist for dissing her profession.
I don’t sew blankets but I sure nuff donated a couple to Haiti relief efforts through my church, our pastor was down there and it was hell on earth, more so now that the ravenous spotlight has moved on. I volunteer at the local Cares org in my little southern town too. I’m near Fort Campbell KY and those service families go through their own hell and really deserve our support. Maybe I WILL take up sewing, is it hard? lol
@Joe. Nah, not hard, even for a guy
. I mean, if you want to make fancy clothes, that will take some training. But a simple pillow like this nice lady makes takes 5 minutes on a machine or about 20 minutes by hand. I read a different article about her that says she cranks out about six pillows a day on her Singer (and she uses an old-fashioned one that’s powered entirely by a foot-operated treadle. That takes more physical stamina and know-how compared to an electric sewing machine).
I’m with you about military families. And while I hate the war, I also think crapping on wounded soldiers and the people who want to help them is a total compassion FAIL.
@Joe. Nah, not hard, even for a guy
Yeah Besharp, I can’t let fat fingers slow me down!
My sister lives in Australia and years ago she and I knitted little sweaters for penguins affected by oil spills. The sweaters keep them from preening the oil off their feathers and swallowing it. Now I just knit mittens and scarves for the homeless (I live near York–the original one!–and it can get pretty cold up here).
And radfemdisco can kiss my needles. Since when does having a useful skill = patriarchial practice? You know what makes the Patriarchy happy? Women with no skills at all.
My only real crafty skill is cross stitching. It’s great to keep my hands busy while I watch tv or hang out with friends, but I haven’t figured out how to make it charitable. I could sell my work, but I don’t have time to finish things fast enough to make that worth it. I think I’m going to learn to knit soon so I have a craft that’s more useful. Right now the most handy thing I can do is patch up my friends’ clothes for them so they don’t have to buy new ones.