Based on the current situation, we feel it’s necessary to cancel our events for May as social distancing would be very difficult for us to achieve. Our June goal is to have inventory drop offs in the parking area with an inventory sheet one for boy accessories, another one for girl accessories, and a different one for clothes.   The inventory sheets are available on the website or you can use a 8×11 piece of paper. If you need to pick up supplies, I am thinking of appointments only to achieve social distancing.   A final decision will be made the first of June. 

We will not be holding our traditional distribution in July as it is not wise to hold a large gathering of 1,000 people at this time.  Many different distribution versions are being worked on as each school district is unique with the number of students involved, but the most important thing is the kids will need all the items BTSCD can deliver to them.  I know many of you have been sewing and creating accessories and really need to get them out of your house. We need to “plan for success” and our first plan is to have the inventory, then we can determine the best way to get it to the kids. Our latest inventory is attached and we look forward to seeing your full cars in June. 

I know many of you have been creating masks. Let us know how many you have made and who they went to, family, friends or organizations. We had a request of 400, which grew to 1,000, for the Beatitudes Campus and I know several worked on these.  I bet we will be amazed at the number of masks we created!  You can email me with your numbers.

About a year ago, the Running Stitches members learned about F.A.B.R.I.C., which stands for Fashion and Business Resource Innovation Center. F.A.B.R.I.C. is located in Tempe and their facility is a production center for Arizona fashion designers and entrepreneurs. The building has also has a fashion show runway with professional lighting and video/photography equipment. Their mission is to provide Arizona’s emerging designers and brands with innovative, small batch manufacturing and strategic business resources, so they can build sustainable fashion businesses locally.

When COVID-19 hit, these talented sewists and designers took their skills and pivoted to start producing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for healthcare facilities in Arizona. They had to convert their facility and retrofit equipment to produce PPE that was FDA compliant. Local funders provided them with grants to upgrade their power grid to accommodate more industrial sewing machines, convert their facility to meet clean room standards, purchase a huge industrial fabric cutting machine, and purchase specific material certified for use in making isolation gowns for healthcare workers that can be laundered and reused multiple times. The F.A.B.R.I.C. designers worked with a doctor at Dignity Health to come up with a design for the isolation gown to be sure that it was functional for the front line healthcare workers that will be using it.

Now the facility is set up so that their team is spaced at a safe distance and every day, they are producing thousands of PPE reusable gowns for Arizona healthcare facilities throughout the state. In Stitches of Love, we always knew how talented sewists are. Now everyone is seeing just how valuable that talent is during this crisis.  When you see the critical equipment these sewists are creating, it’s easy to see that their talents are now saving lives!

Click here (https://www.fabrictempe.com/blog-1) to see all the posts in their blog that show their progress in converting from fashion to their work producing PPE‘s and also to get information on their 1,000,000 Gown Challenge and their need to hire talented sewists.

We have a small group who create baby items for the Phoenix Indian Hospital and they have been asked for 100 masks. If you can help them,  please contact June Gregory at 602-841-1760 or [email protected].

We look forward to seeing you in June.

Sandy