Project gives children a place to lay their heads

WILLIAMSBURG — A community service project by a pair of Williamsburg seniors will give displaced children a personal space on which to lay their heads.

Kaitlyn Snow and Cady Campbell, with the help of other Family, Career and Community Leaders of America students will donate more than 50 pillowcases to Care Bags Foundation in Newton.

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The project will allow the pair to compete at a Students Taking Action with Recognition event. STAR events recognize students for identifying an issue concerning families, careers or communities, researching the topic and implementing a project.

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“I wanted to do something with sewing,” said Snow. Two years ago she took a sewing class with Krista Casterline, FCCLA adviser.

Initially, Snow didn’t want to take the class, but now she enjoys sewing.

And FCCLA has a sewing project every year, Snow said.

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FCCLA students made masks during the pandemic and made port pillows for cancer patients who have ports for chemotherapy, said Casterline.

Though she likes sewing, Snow isn’t much for writing. So she teamed up with Campbell, a 10-year 4-Her who routinely writes reports for her 4-H projects.

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“I’ve never sewed anything in my life,” said Campbell. The FCCLA students tried to teach her, but they had to rip out a lot of her stitches. She’ll stick to writing.

At the suggestion of Casterline, Snow contacted Care Bags Foundation in Newton to see if she and Campbell could make and donate pillowcases to the organization.

Care Bags puts together supply bags to comfort displaced children. The bags include stuffed animals and toiletries. And now, they’ll include pillowcases — something personal for children sleeping in unfamiliar beds.

Snow and Campbell have all the FCCLA students helping with the STAR project. “Amy [Schafbuch] has done a lot of the cutting the fabric,” said Snow.

Marlie Phillips finishes two or three pillowcases a day. “It takes me about an hour [per case],” Phillips said.

“I haven’t taken a sewing class,” Phillips said, except an exploratory class in 8th grade. She’s teaching herself as she makes pillowcases.

Schafbuch, a freshman, had about 50 hours in as of last week, said Casterline. Together, the students have put about 200 hours into making the pillowcases.

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The pillowcases consist of two pieces of fabric sewed together with a third, contrasting piece, at the top of the case.

“Flannel is really easy to work with,” said Casterline, so the students went to JoAnn and picked out some patterns in flannel.

“We had a lot of girl ones,” said Campbell, so they searched for some patterns that boys might like — dinosaurs, camping and fire trucks.

Snow and Campbell planned to donate the pillowcases March 3, so they started sewing in January. Campbell’s goal was to complete 50, said Snow, but they worried that was too lofty a goal, so they decided they’d try to get 10 made.

“By the end of January, we had 34,” said Snow. They were over 40 last week.

FCCLA is accepting monetary donations to buy more fabric, and it’s taking donations for personal hygiene items to put in the Care Bags. “We made a Facebook post,” said Snow, and people are already donating items.

Mid-Prairie’s FCCLA Chapter has agreed to help make pillowcases when the two chapters meet in February. The schools are in the same district, and the chapters often do things together, said Casterline.

Phillips enjoys the camaraderie with the other students while they work on the project, she said.

“If you’re not in a sport … it gives you a home to be in,” said Casterline. The classroom is open “and they can come in whenever they want.”

“I’ve been in this classroom so much,” said Snow.

“It’s our last year in high school I really wanted to do something that makes a difference,” said Snow. She likes helping anyone, but especially children, she said.

Campbell wanted to do something that has an impact on other people.

The students have learned independence while working on their STAR project, said Snow. “We’d had to make a lot of decisions.”

“I don’t really help,” said Casterline. It’s an independent project.

Campbell said most projects in 4-H are big group service projects. This time, its just Snow and Campbell in charge.

The STAR project fulfills the Williamsburg FCCLA tagline, “We develop leadership through community service,” said Casterline.