"Sew Blessed" group seeks to aid young and old using recycled items

Each Monday a group of women gather in the Haxtun Church of The Brethren basement with a spiritual presence that involves sewing, recycling and laughter. The resulting projects offer more benefit than these simplistic descriptions. The women working under the moniker "Sew Blessed," spend each Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. sewing items that serve youngsters and the elderly here at home and young people around the world. The sewers recycle items such as t-shirts and pillowcases to create new usable clothing and specialty items. "If Grandma or Aunt Grace want to clean out their house, we will take whatever they want to give us," said Sew Blessed founder Maureen Waite.

In addition to Maureen, the group includes Kay Wernsman, Teri Wernsman, Barb Wernsman, Kathy Schaefer and Alice Mathews, all of Haxtun, Maxine Brandt, Linda Alberts and Loretta Gibbs, all of Holyoke, and Jeanette Poos of Imperial, Neb.

Donated clothing and other material comes from places like the Haxtun United Methodist Church's store, Retread Threads, the Haxtun Community Food Bank and individuals such as Maxine Brandt who previously belonged to another sewing group. When that group stopped meeting Maxine ended up with a lot of left over supplies that she proposed donating to Sew Blessed. "I told her we wouldn't take her stuff unless she came with it," said Maureen. Maxine's "stuff" included 200 welcome zippers, an item that has become very expensive in stores. She is now one of 10 Sew Blessed sewers.

Sometimes the group purchases material when they discover a bargain. Recently Maureen purchased 500 zippers at 10¢ each from a Holyoke woman.

From this donated and purchased material, Sew Blessed members create a wide variety of useful items. They sew young girls' dresses, young boys' shorts and infant caps that ship to places like Africa, Honduras, Guam and the Philippines. As of last week, they had made and shipped a total 536 dresses, 142 shorts and 133 baby hats. Maureen stressed that they have never paid shipping to deliver these items to other countries.

For nursing homes in Haxtun and Holyoke, the women make pillowcases, walker bags and dignity bibs. Through last week, the women had delivered 30 Halloween pillowcases, 50 generic pillowcases and 60 dignity bibs. Then last Monday, a request for pillowcases from Pat Rahe, a housekeeper at Haxtun's Extended Care Unit, resulted in 30 additional pillowcases, six walker bags, 22 scarves, four stocking hats and two sleeping bags. Maureen said they are happy to fill requests like that anytime.

Earlier in the year, the staff at Haxtun's daycare, Little Sprouts Learning Center, requested berets for the facility's children to wear when they marched in the Haxtun Corn Festival Parade. The women delivered 30 berets. They also made and delivered six pillow covers, 15 quilts and 10 toddler blankets to the daycare facility.

Recently, in an effort to encourage people to use cloth bags instead of plastic, members began making and giving out shopping bags to carry purchases home from stores like Haxtun Super's and Dollar General. Thus far, they have made and given out over 100 bags. Maureen stressed that people may take the bags free-of-charge. "We don't do retail," said Maureen. "We donate everything. We operate on a very low budget."

Sew Blessed members also sew quilts, some of them given to individuals in the places mentioned above, and others they donate to non-profit groups to sell for fundraising. Recently members made six afghans for a Catholic Charities fundraiser and they have made quilts for Holyoke Hospital's fundraising. They have donated 25 quilts for fundraising so far and have 14 quilts in storage for when they are needed.

Maureen said Teri Wernsman came to the group with no experience in sewing quilts but she is now in the process of completing her first quilt. "It has been hit and miss," said Teri.

The group makes items for any purpose they hear about and they seek out material and used clothing to use in those endeavors wherever they can find it. They also find ways to utilize any scraps of material they end up with. They recently started utilizing scraps to make small purses that can be used for carrying makeup or other small items while traveling, and also craft fabric games for the ECU residents who then attempt pushing a marble through a maze sewed into two pieces of fabric. Linda Alberts donated the marbles for the games. "Members are always coming up with ideas for items we can make," said Maureen.

Although members and other individuals offer ideas to give locally, most ideas for what the group can make and send overseas come from missionaries connected to local churches.

Sew Blessed started last March in Maureen's home in Daley when Maxine Brandt requested help finishing dresses for young African girls. Since then the membership and the types of projects have grown considerably and the number of volunteers and amount of supplies outgrew Maureen's house. She then contacted Mike Koellner, who owns property on Haxtun's Main Street, and told him they were looking for space. He suggested she contact the Church of the Brethren. In the beginning, the women shared room in the COB basement with the Haxtun Chamber of Commerce and a representative of Veteran Services. Both entities have since stopped using the basement.

Ideas for alternative uses of the building surfaced in early 2022 when the Church of the Brethren congregation began discussing ways to retain the church building's importance to the Haxtun community regardless of what happens to the number of parishioner who attend services in the future. Community use of the building was a new idea based in the building's history.

Members used mostly volunteer workmanship and material to construct the main portion of the COB building, which was dedicated by the congregation in Jan. of 1917. An addition was constructed and dedicated on Jan. 29, 1929.

In addition to Sunday morning and Wednesday evening services, the newly expanded building provided space for plays, parties and banquets, and because of its large capacity, served the Haxtun community by hosting a variety of functions, including eighth grade commencements, high school graduations, funerals and marriages. Long-time members of the church also recall roller-skating in the basement.

In addition to its historic value for the Haxtun community, the building also holds a large array of artwork created by the late Jesse Scott, who was a life-long member.

When the congregation decided to offer space for uses other than their own religious services, they stressed that the church would not attempt to compete with the Haxtun Community Center, nor would they use the offer of space as an attempt to increase membership.

In addition to Sew Blessed's use of the basement, an exercise group meets in the sanctuary on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7:30, a "no agenda" coffee gathering meets in the sanctuary on Thursday mornings from 9 to 11 a.m. weather permitting, a local book club meets in the sanctuary when needed and an Open Mic event is held in the sanctuary about once a month in summer.

Sew Blessed moved into the church basement on May 23, 2022 and have gradually made that space their own. They keep supplies in the former Brethren Women's storage room where they discovered a large number of quilt blocks. They have since turned most of those blocks into quilts. They also use the room to store 11 sewing machines along with a bag of supplies for each and two selvage machines that are used to finish fabric edges to prevent unraveling. Each supply bag holds scissors, a seam ripper, a six-inch ruler, bobbins that fit that machine, cleaning brushes made from pipe cleaners and pastry brushes and a double edged measuring template. Eleven of the sewing machines and the two selvage machines were donated. Maureen recently purchased an additional sewing machine with the hope of receiving donated funds to reimburse her for the cost.

Mike Crites, Maureen's neighbor, shortened the legs on three long tables that were donated to the group by the Haxtun American Legion. Adjusting the height on the tables make sewing at the machines easier and, recently they received the donation of 10 office chairs to sit in while sewing. The padded chairs, which can be adjusted for the shortened tables, make working more comfortable. Kathy Schaefer's brother-in-law, Tony Schaefer, donated the chairs that came from a television station in Cheyenne, Wyo. He also donated a tray of pastries. "He is a very generous man," said Maureen. Tony Schaefer, who grew up in Haxtun, is the brother of Kathy's late husband Dave.

Recently, the group expanded storage space when Church of the Brethren member Adele McConnell cleaned out the former children's play room and church Pastor Ken Frantz offered use of the room to Sew Blessed. The cabinets in the room hold items waiting to find a home.

Perhaps "spiritual" seems a bit mystical for a sewing group, but hearing the laughter flow up the stairway that leads to the basement reminds one of the years the Brethren Women held club meetings in the basement and worked sewing quilts and other items as church projects. Although most of those women have now passed on, memories of their loving and gracious spirits remain.