Gift Cards Joyfully Spent for DfG Pittsburgh

I’m not sure how to celebrate president’s day, but I sure know how to celebrate having an abundance of gift cards on the day of a sale. I’ve been holding the last of the birthday gift cards for just such an occasion.

I went to Pittsburgh North in the morning because it’s been a long time since I was able to visit them in person. I always feel so loved there. We caught up on shop talk and I got to see their new mural that they made themselves. We loaded my car with components and washcloths that they wanted to transfer to the collection point. Lisa heated up chicken pot pie for all of us to share. I appreciate meals with friend so much more now. I gave their team some of the Starbucks gift cards from my b-day to get more coffee to enjoy together. They have a coffee maker in their work room so that was their preference.

After that, I met my co-leaders at Starbucks to caffeinate and plan our Joann’s trip. Constance announced she wanted the biggest Frappuccino they had because we were celebrating today. Let’s just say our giggly group caught the attention of the staff. We talked to the baristas about DfG and period poverty. They were aware of period poverty from documentaries and UN work that they follow. We were able to tell them ways Starbucks has sponsored DfGI enterprises. Constance knew exactly which ones because of her work as one of the sewing specialists. Nita and Constance exchanged fabric to be assembled into shields then we took the unmatched fabric with us to Joann’s, but not before we spread fabric out on the table to make sure we had things that we liked together. Nita had some swatches from her ‘homework’ of fabric that she needed to match for shields, and she gave us each a few at Joann’s so we could each pick out something fun to go with them.

We had “sew” much fun talking about fabric choices together and spending money as a team. This was the first time we have shopped all together (but it won’t be the last). Constance’s favorite JoAnn’s associate, Christy assisted us at the cutting table or in this case measuring table since we bought entire bolts. She got to work on our cotton selections while we picked up some flannel and added it to our pile. We also picked up some extra scissors, rulers, and pins. After determining what was going in each car, we hugged in the parking lot as if we had just left a holiday party.

Nita needed to be back home. Constance and Carrie dropped off materials and then met me at church to host the DfG Pitt club. They helped us check carry pouches and put already checked liners into shields (pods and double stuffs) to be assembled into kits later. We reviewed some liners that they had sewn to make sure they were ready for the final serging. One of our team members will do that later. The students are sewing well, and they have been meeting with us once a month. We found out a few of them will be here over the summer so we are hopeful they will continue to volunteer too.

I went home tired but happy.