At Allbrands, we’re dedicated to our customer’s well-being. In the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, we are adjusting out business model to still provide you with the supplies you need while keeping you and our employees safe.
Two weeks ago, we assisted Lighthouse Christian Fellowship Church in their effort to distribute thousands of free face masks to members of the Baton Rouge community in collaboration with U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy and local councilwoman Tara Wicker. Allbrands donated fabrics for this project and we’re so glad to see it go to great use! See the full story below from WBRZ:
On February 26, John Douthat and Barbara Chatelain from Allbrands met with Todd Ulmer, social services director of the Salvation Army of Greater Baton Rouge, and Renee Chatelain, president and CEO of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge to plan a therapy program for homeless men sheltered in the Salvation Army’s Baton Rouge location.
The Salvation Army of Baton Rouge helps to find work opportunities to those struggling to find work in the area. While Renee Chatelain was touring the bunkers where the Salvation Army hosts the homeless, she thought it would be great for the men living there to have their own quilts.
According to Chatelain, it’s important to recreate that good positive energy one associates with quilts. She was inspired by the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, a nonprofit in Alabama that works to preserve the quilt artistry of a group known as the Gee’s Bend quiltmakers, with the oldest examples of these quilts dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. These carefully preserved quilts vary greatly in style, ranging from housetop and bricklayer quilts to more abstract designs.
Chancelier “Xero” Skidmore, director of community engagement at the Arts Council of Baton Rouge, works regularly with incarcerated people. He hopes to talk with the members of this group, once it is created, and help them find images that are meaningful to the members to incorporate into their quilts.
According to Chatelain, everyone can remember their grandmother’s quilts. She hopes this will bring comfort and a welcome creative outlet. Todd Ulmer, program director for the Salvation Army of Baton Rouge, agrees that this will be a great source of therapy for the group and will also serve as a way for those living at the Salvation Army’s local shelter to exercise some of their creative skills.
By Margaret Jankowski, Founder, The Sewing Machine Project
The Sewing Machine Project is a nonprofit organization that works with other groups across the country to donate sewing machines, sewing supplies, and sewing classes. Since 2005, The Sewing Machine Project has distributed over 3,000 sewing machines. Below is an article by founder Margaret Jankowski about their partnership with us over the years, as featured in the VDTA-SDTA News magazine’s January issue.
Our partnership with John Douthat and AllBrands in Baton Rouge, LA has stretched over many years. John found us and we’ve been collaborating for over a decade. And for every step we’ve been grateful.
Some photos from The Sewing Machine Project’s recent efforts in Houston after Hurricane Harvey and in Cuba for their Sew Cuba program.
We have shipped pallets of machines to different AllBrands locations, most often to the Metairie, LA store for our work in New Orleans. We ship the pallet or UPS set of machines shortly before we plan to work there and then fly in and pick them up on that end. The AllBrands staff members are amazing and so helpful.
AllBrands donated 100 Brother machines after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Partnering with a charitable group gathering supplies for a container in Mississippi, John shipped the machines to Mississippi and we shipped fabric and notions to the same site. The charitable group, hurrying to deliver supplies, gathered everything and sent it on to Haiti.
John arranged a partnership with LSU’s New Orleans campus
and we shipped a pallet of machines to supply their theatre department as they
recovered after Hurricane Katrina. We met John for a presentation of the machines
in their newly renovated theatre.
It was John’s work that helped us partner with a company
supplying small industrial machines for use on sailboats when we laughed our
SeaHope project in 2010 following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. With SeaHope
we gathered donated sails from sailors in Wisconsin and took them to Houma in
Terrebonne Parish, LA, to make into messenger bags to sell as a fundraiser.
John connected us with Sailrite out of Indiana and they donated 10 compact
industrial machines for the project. Proceeds from the sale of messenger bags
were donated to organizations working with those affected by the spill.
Sister Gisela, a volunteer for The Sewing Machine Project’s program in Cuba, holds up a new creation.
The Sewing Machine Project worked with AllBrands to ship machines and supplies to Cuba to begin sewing lessons there. AllBrands donated the machines and we asked our donors to offer fabric and supplies. Together we launched a sewing program in Cuba. Today AllBbrands collects donated sewing machines for our work in New Orleans. They are currently preparing a set of donated machines for a 4-H group helping kids learn the benefits of sewing and then will prepare a second set for a group of working teens creating a community center in the area. Partnership works. While the SMP clearly benefits from AllBrands’ generosity, AllBrands benefits as well being known as a leader in the community as well as putting their brand in front of new sewers who, when able to purchase their own machines in the future, will more likely then not, purchase through AllBrands. We are exponentially grateful for the kindness that AllBrands has shown us and continues to show the world.
Checklist of needed supplies for the Animal Rescue Collective Crafters’ Guild from January 4, 2020.
Sewing groups aren’t just a way to make friends, but can
also be a way to make a difference in the local community. Now with the rise of
social media, the world is more interconnected than ever. In the wake of
tragedy small groups can make a difference not just locally, but all across the
globe.
Since September 2019, devastating wildfires have ravaged
Australia, destroying homes and decimating ecosystems across the country. According
to ecologist Chris Dickman, over a billion animals have died since
these fires have started. If you’ve been active on any social media platform these
last four months, you’ve likely seen many images of injured animals rescued
from the devastation. Being so far away from such a large environmental
disaster, it can feel like Americans can’t make a difference in a tangible way.
While the situation is dire, folks around the world are
coming together not only raise money, but to create and donate resources. Rescue
centers in Australia are in urgent need of bat wraps, joey pouches, and
blankets to help those animals who were able to make it out of the fires. The
Animal Rescue Collective Craft Guild, located in Australia, is working with
wildlife groups and crafters around the world to get these desperately needed
supplies.
Australian rescues desperately need joey pouches for rescued
animals. As the name suggests, these pouches can fit joeys, or baby kangaroos. They
mimic kangaroo pouches where young joeys rest until they’re old enough to fend
for themselves. According to the Animal Rescue Collective Craft Guild, will
help not just those baby kangaroos, but also sugar gliders, possums, koalas,
and wallabies. The patterns for the pouches were shared on various social media
platforms and can be scaled up or down to create different sizes for different
animals.
One member of a local sewing group, who met in our Baton Rouge location, creates joey pouches to be sent directly to Australia.
One such group came together this Thursday at our Baton Rouge location to help with relief efforts. This sewing group in particular met in our Baton Rouge location in 2013. Now, almost 7 years later, the group is still getting together and sewing regularly. A local wildlife organization has been reaching out to businesses in the Baton Rouge area to ask for any help in sending resources almost 10,000 miles away to Australia. One customer got wind of the need for help and assembled her sewing group to help. Thursday the group came together to make joey pouches of all shapes and sizes to send directly to local rescues in Australia. The ladies worked on several pouches on our Brother Dream Machines in our sew studio.
These ladies donated supplies and so can you! Patterns for
these pouches are available here,
so please pass the patterns on or make your own pouches! In a time of serious
environmental disaster you can make a difference like these customers did.
