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Camp Quality, located
in nearby Frankfort, Illinois, is a short distance from the Needle Artisans in
Munster, Indiana.
Camp Quality is a camp for children with cancer. The guild has been
participating in this outreach program for four years. We have
taught various projects to the children which have included cross-stitch
on tote bags and bookmarks, and plastic canvas autograph book,
treasure chest and jewelry box.
The children look forward to our projects and have a great time - so do
our members! This is such a
rewarding experience for us all!
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NANI Members
Halloween Book Cover
2005 Project
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NANI Members
Member, Carol Parry
helping a young girl with her
stitching
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Thousands of volunteers
and charitable organizations have joined forces to make Habitat for
Humanity one of the most successful and truly heartwarming community
programs in America’s history. U.S. census data indicates that more than 63 thousand people
in Lake County, Indiana, live in poverty.
Lake County ranks second in the state, in terms of the number of
people living in poverty.
In 2000, Northwest Indiana Habitat for Humanity’s Board of Directors
endorsed a goal of building ten houses in the City of Gary to celebrate Habitat for Humanity
International’s 25th Anniversary.
These ten houses are located in the 800 block of Pennsylvania and
Connecticut Streets. They
were dedicated on September 11, 2001. Families
do not receive their homes for free.
They purchase them at no profit through interest fee loans.
Their mortgage payments are placed in a revolving fund for Humanity
to help build more houses. A
Habitat Home not only provides a decent living environment for the family,
it also revitalizes entire communities.
Rising property values, increasing tax base, and support for
surrounding businesses are all positive outcomes of Habitat efforts.
This ripple effect has also occurred in the Embroiderers' Guild of
America, Inc. community outreach program
Inspired by a suggestion of Melinda Themm-Bunker of the Embroiderers'
Guild of America, Inc. Plantation
Society of Needle Artists, members of the Neapolitan chapter of the
Embroiderers' Guild of America, Inc. decided to mount a major community outreach program to make samplers for
the recipients of Habitat homes in Collier County, Florida.
This program has mushroomed over the country until there are now
well over 130 chapters adopting this program.
Two articles have appeared in NeedleArts Magazine:
September 1997, pages 42-43 and March 2001, pages 12-13.
These articles can also be read on-line at the Embroiderers' Guild
of America, Inc. web site:
www.egausa.org.
The recipients of these samplers are truly grateful for the
time and effort put into this project on their behalf.
It serves as a tangible proof of the pride they have in becoming
homeowners. |
The Needle
Artisans of Northwest Indiana, working under a terrific time constraint,
put out an all out effort in stitching the samplers for those first ten
homes (09/11/01). The guild
has since awarded nine samplers in 2002, and eight samplers -- so far in
2003, to total 27 samplers to date.
Our thanks to the following for their involvement in this program:
Tina Chvostal, Liz Vaitkus, and the Great Frame-Up for preparing the
samplers, mats, and donating supplies & labor on the frames.
We appreciate the time and wonderful stitching of our sampler stitchers: Barb Boughamer, Chris Callahan, Cathy Carlson, Jeanette Carr, Helen Cheeks, Tina Chvostal,
Carol Collet, Jane, Sue Dahlkamp, Melanie Ellexson, Sue Hanson, Marjorie
Holme, Janice Hunn, Jamee Jeckman, Cindy Lukowski, Mary Jane Keller, Mel McCormick,
Lillian Parent, Carol Parry, Kathy Jo Postma, Chris Retseck, Carolyn
Ribordy, Lynn Roades, Margo Schimmel, Robin Schoon, Carol Schultz, Jeni
Stiso, Terry Trykall, Karen Weber, and Bernie Wiscons.
A big thank you
to our Program Coordinator, Carolyn Ribordy, who initiated this special
program with our NANI members, and continues to coordinate this project.
And who can forget the numerous, generous chapter members who have
donated money and stitching supplies to make this all possible!
How Can I Help?
This Outreach Program is an on-going project requiring supply donations
and stitching volunteers from our chapter.
It takes about 7-10 hours to stitch a sampler.
There is added work to stitch the family name, prepare for framing,
and the actual framing task. The
finished project awards the stitcher a great deal of satisfaction of a
work well done.
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St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church was blessed this
summer with a creative donation to the receiving blankets given in the
Baptismal Gift Bags. Chris
Retseck, STM parishioner and Project Coordinator for the Needle Artisans
of Northwest Indiana volunteered the guild to create a quilted label for
the blankets. The label notes
that the receiving blankets are a gift from St. Thomas More Elizabeth
Ministry and have a lovely pastel heart on them.
The guild stitched over 30 labels and applied them to the receiving
blankets donated by parishioners last spring.
They
patiently taught Elizabeth Ministry Leader Kathy Espiritu how to make the
label at one of their monthly meetings in May, 2001.
The blankets were completed by the guild and delivered to Amy Wiess,
Gift Bag Coordinator for Elizabeth Ministry in September.
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St.
Thomas Moore Elizabeth Ministry wishes to thank the Needle Artisans of
Northwest Indiana, their President Aggie Grimmer and Chris Retseck who
sponsored the project for us. Your
creative input will help make the blankets a lasting treasure for the
recipients. The blankets will be given in Baptismal Bags for the next
several months until they are given out.
Member, Chris Retseck and Members of St. Thomas Moore
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Munster, Indiana
