SASKATOON - December 12-18, 201612, - Page Volume 14, EXPRESS Issue 48, Week of December 20161
Saskatoonʼs REAL Community Newspaper
Cloth for Kids
Volunteer sewing brigade outfits kids in need Shannon Boklaschuk Saskatoon Express ewing 12,000 items a year is no small feat — especially for a group of about 50 people. Yet Cloth for Kids does just that. The local non-profit organization’s volunteer sewers – primarily women ranging in age from their late 50s to 90 — donate thousands of hours annually to create new clothes and other items for Saskatchewan children in need. “We don’t take used clothing and alter them. We make them from scratch – everything – and it’s from donated fabric from the public,” said Edna Poncelet, who founded the Saskatoon-based charity in 2002. “We make for newborn babies to size 12, and we make quilts and bags and a lot of useful items for the schools.” Cloth for Kids is looking for sewers and volunteers to join its “volunteer sewing brigade.” Drop-in sessions are held on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the basement of St. Thomas Wesley United Church on 20th Street West, where the women meet to sew and socialize. Cloth for Kids obtains its fabric, yarn, notions and sewing machines through donations, and then volunteers create new items for organizations that help children. Professionals from these agencies – such as social workers, community school staff members and public health employees – are then able to “shop” for the kids from the charity’s inventory. The idea for Cloth for Kids was born after Poncelet attended a conference and spoke with fellow sewing store business owners. In the spring of 2002, she placed an advertisement in the newspaper calling for volunteer sewers and donations of fabric and notions — and the rest is history. “I had heardAaron in other provinces that AS121227
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Edna Poncelet founded Cloth for Kids in 2002. A group of 50 volunteers sews 12,000 items a year. (Photo by Sandy Hutchinson) there were some groups that were making coats for kids, and I thought, ‘You know, everybody’s got a stash of fabric that’s just sitting there and they don’t know what to do with it,’ ” Poncelet said. “So I thought, ‘I’ll put the word out there for volunteers for sewing and ask for unused fabric so we can make clothing for needy kids.’ And that’s how it started,” she added. “When I started, I had a shop where we sold sewing machines and fabrics, and I asked for unused fabric donations. The first year I got five or six bags of fabric and three volunteers. And now we’ve grown to a room full of fabric and about 25 to 30 volunteers that show up every week — and then there are some that do sewing at home. So I think the number of volunteers has grown to about 50-some.” Last year, Cloth for Kids volunteers sewed about 12,000 items and had about 300 to 400 visits from organizations. Poncelet said the hours the Cloth for Kids volunteers put in are “way beyond” 12,000 a year. “Some are skilled sewers; some are
just wanting to learn,” Poncelet said. “We get high school kids that like to volunteer. We even have two little girls that volunteer. One is eight, I believe, and the other one is 11 or 12, and they come when they’re not in school.” Poncelet is certainly no stranger to sewing, as she also began as a child. She started helping her mother sew at the age of two and now has about 65 years of experience under her belt. Eleven years ago, after becoming ill due to cancer, she closed her fabric store but kept her passion for sewing. “My health took priority and told me to stay home,” she said. Poncelet is now doing well and continues to give back to the community. She said there is a “big demand” throughout the province for the items Cloth for Kids creates. “Whenever there’s a fire up north, we get a request for blankets and stuff like that for the evacuees,” she said. “I think we’ve made a difference. I think we’re just barely skimming the top, because there’s so many families that definitely are in need.”
In addition to helping children and their families, Cloth for Kids is also making a difference in the lives of its volunteers. Poncelet said the women have a lot of fun when they gather each week. “It’s quite a social group. A lot of the ladies are either widowed or having personal problems, and they come to sewing and they say it’s their day. They forget about their stuff,” she said. “It’s liberating for them. It’s a support group. Even for myself, I’ve been going through some stuff and you go there on Thursday and you forget about it. There’s laughter and a lot of camaraderie. It’s really good.” Cloth for Kids is looking for volunteers and is accepting donated items, including cutting rotary blades, thread, unused fabric, knitting yarn and baby flannelette. Cloth for Kids also accepts monetary donations so that it can purchase supplies, with charitable receipts available for donations over $25. For more information, go online to clothforkids.ca or email info@clothforkids.ca.
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