When two sisters, Caitlyne and Kimberly Evans of Cypress, received 200-yards of top-quality quilted fabric in various colors from their mother’s friend, they, and their mother, set about thinking of a way to make good use of the beautiful fabric.
Earlier this month, the family organized a small group at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ building on Valley View Street in Garden Grove, to see if they could possibly make some blankets and perhaps sleeping bags for shelters. “That first time, we made three blankets and three sleeping bags,” said the girl’s mother Shanda Evans.
“We will contact as many local shelters as we can, with the amount of fabric we have to make the blankets and sleeping bags,” said the sisters. “We wanted to see something good accomplished with the fabric.”
Sewing is pretty new for the sisters, admitting that even though one had tried sewing before, this project is, “A level higher than before.”
Then, they advertised on a website, “JustServe.org” asking for help in making additional sleeping bags and blankets for local youth and women’s shelters for their Young Women’s Project in the Church’s Cypress Stake area that takes in West Garden Grove, Stanton, Cypress and Buena Park and La Palma.
By the end of the afternoon – 22 people had shown up – with nine sewing machines and serger-machines in hand, which enabled the group to complete 12 blankets and 27 sleeping bags. They will meet one more time on an additional Saturday, but this time it’s going to be in a Cerritos building, to use up the rest of the fabric by making more sleeping bags and blankets.
The JustServe.org website is where anyone can look over the list of service projects available for young people and adults alike to select a project they find interesting and one for which they might want to get involved.
The website reads: “We believe that nothing should get in the way of organizations and volunteers coming together to do good things for the community, so we help make this happen for free.”
The girl’s post read: “Sewing machines and sergers are needed (especially sergers). Don’t have a sewing machine? Please still attend as we can use your help and can teach you how to sew.”
High School students are required to have 40 service-hours, approximately 10-hrs. each year of high school, in order to graduate and it’s a great opportunity for the youth to learn about community involvement and volunteering/giving their time without pay for a great cause.
It’s an opportunity for youth throughout the local areas to sign up and make a difference in their community and to meet other youth with like-minded interests.”This was a really fun event,” said Shanda Evans. “My girls loved it and it was so wonderful to let them see that service is fun.”
