Sewing With a Purpose

Sewing With a Purpose (SWP) had a fruitful year for our Lord. Many people volunteered and needs were filled to bless local neighbors and people worldwide.

Here are a few of our projects that blessed people:

NICU at Strong Hospital

The NICU of Strong requested that our sewing team create eye protections for the 1 & 2-pound babies. These special items would protect a newborn’s delicate eye during X-rays and MRIs. Our team created 48 of these in July. In August, we received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Pediatric Chair at the Golisano Children’s Hospital for piloting the creation of these eye protections for 1 – 2 pound babies. In November, we received a request for 200 eye protections. 10 were sent in December and we received a 5-yard donation which is being prepared for January 2023 sewing to fulfill the request.
50 flannel hearts are sent to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Strong Hospital every other month

Care for those with Cancer

We continue to make port cushions and distributed 12. These offer comfort for patients when traveling by car to treatments. We originally created these at the request of a breast cancer patient, but what we have discovered is that these port cushions are used by any cancer patient having a port. They are also used by patients who have had open heart surgery. Many of these were requested by relatives of our church family. They have been sent to several states in addition to helping local patients. A personalized prayer sheet accompanies each port cushion.

Blessing those in Need

Handmade teddy bears are continued to be delivered to the Domestic Violence Safe House in Batavia.
90 Days for Girls feminine hygiene kits were completed by a large team here in WNY, then hand-delivered to Rwanda by Mark Logan of Northgate Church in August.
Sewing With A Purpose recruited knitters to make 14 hats for our church’s Veteran Ministry. The final count is still not in for this project.

Prayer Shawls

We continue to deliver prayer shawls to bless people who may be struggling with illness or the loss of a loved one. 17 prayer shawls were delivered with love. A personalized prayer accompanies each prayer shawl.

Mending

A team of four seamstresses gathered to repair/reinforce the colorful parachute in time for use at VBS and Sports Camp. Handles were reattached and new handles were created where missing. This will extend the life of this useful item.

Other Projects

In June, SWP had a presence at Bergen Park Days providing samples of our church’s sewing projects on display for guests to see.

No one ever serves God by waiting for tomorrow.

Thank you all who helped make each of these things happen and thank you for your prayers.

Debbie McAllister