March 10, 2006

Sixth annual Girl Scouts Sew For Love event a big success

By Jodi Wallace
Special to the Times

The soft whirring of machines. The click-click of scissors. The steady hum of voices.

The Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County were very busy with their 2006 Sew for Love Event, and the numbers prove it. This year’s totals included 150 cat and dogs beds that were split between the Humane Society of Silicon Valley and the Animal Care Center in South San Jose, as well as 162 quilts for adults and children, 10 bean bag chairs and 350 tote bags that were spread out among The Emergency Housing Consortium, Sunday Friends, Next Door Solutions and Teen Challenge International.

A factory?

A place of business?

No, welcome to “Sew For Love” 2006.

This Sixth annual community service event sponsored by Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County brings together Girl Scouts, their adult leaders and parents, and members of the community for a weekend sewing gala benefiting local non-profit organizations that serve our community.

“Sew For Love is our way of giving back to the community,” said Michelle Zeiler, creator of the “Sew For Love” program.

This once-a-year weekend event, held this year on Feb. 11 and 12, grew out of the Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County Sew EZ program, which introduces Girl Scouts of all ages to the joy and fun of sewing.

“We talk to our children about the importance of giving back to their community,” Zeiler said. “This is a fun way of showing them how to do it.”

This year’s projects included 150 cat and dogs beds that were split between the Humane Society of Silicon Valley and the Animal Care Center in South San Jose, as well as 162 quilts for adults and children, 10 bean bag chairs and 350 tote bags that were distributed among The Emergency Housing Consortium, Sunday Friends, Next Door Solutions and Teen Challenge International.

In addition, 227 stuffed animals were collected from around the community and are the proud owners of beautiful new polar fleece scarves. These fashionable critters were released into the custody of the San Jose Police Department who will hand them out to children throughout San Jose that the officers encounter during calls.

Preparation for “Sew For Love” started months in advance as Zeiler begged, cajoled and solicited donations from companies she encounters during her “real” job as a fabric and sewing notion sales representative.

Though donations of fabric come in during the year, bolts of “kid friendly” polar fleece, flannel and cotton fabrics, as well as rolls of batting, and sherpa which is used for animal beds are among the most needed and coveted items the program seeks each year. Fabric donations came from as far away as Chicago and New Jersey in addition to Bay Area fabric and quilt shops.

In addition, door prize donations for the volunteers sharing their time and hearts were sought after as well. This year’s best door prize was a brand new out-of-the-box sewing machine graciously donated by Ray’s Sewing Machine Center in San Jose, and this year’s coolest donation was 100 scoops of strawberry ice cream kindly donated by Mr. Kanwar Singh at Coldstone Creamery on Bernal Road.

Pak N Save Foods on Capitol Avenue and McKee Road generously donated two entire pallets worth of door prizes, and as always, the Girl Scouts wanted to pass along a special thank you to The Sewing & Vacuum Center on McKee Road, which provides year-round help and maintenance to the Girl Scouts’ sewing machines as well as being Sew For Love’s very first community sponsor.

Set up for this year’s event took two evenings to complete, but with the assistance of numerous program sewing aides, the Girl Scout facility was transformed in preparation for the weekend’s events. Volunteers arrived bright and early on Feb. 11 from all over the bay area, ranging from Salinas to Palo Alto, and every part of San Jose. Girl Scouts and community members had arrived and were ready to help.

After a full load of work on Saturday, Sunday came and went as final touches were put on projects and several organizations came to pick up their “gifts.”

Other donated items were delivered through out the following week. Following a hefty cleanup, the facility was clean and quiet. Zeiler and her crew were on their way home to crawl into bed exhausted, but exuberant.