THE CRANSTON-HOUSTON CONNECTON

Sewing school student spearheads hurricane outreach project

By Jen Cowart
Posted 9/20/17

By JEN COWART When Amber Prior heard about the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey in Texas, she wanted to help. An eighth-grade middle school student in Cranston, she is also a sewing student after hours, in her fourth year of sewing at Jerilyn's

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THE CRANSTON-HOUSTON CONNECTON

Sewing school student spearheads hurricane outreach project

Posted

When Amber Prior heard about the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey in Texas, she wanted to help. An eighth-grade middle school student in Cranston, she is also a sewing student after hours, in her fourth year of sewing at Jerilyn’s Sewing School in Cranston.

“My mom and I wanted to do something for the people in Texas, and we couldn’t think of anything,” Prior said. “After thinking about it for a little while, we decided that we could make [hand-sewn] toiletry bags.”

She brought the idea to Jerilyn Perry, owner of the sewing school, who was about to start her fall semester of classes the next week. Perry was immediately on board, and offered up the project as a task for the first session of classes for each of her groups that week. When Perry put out her September email updates, she asked students to consider donating toiletries to fill the bags. Her students range in age from kindergarten to high school and range in sewing abilities as well.

Amber made five bags herself, completing four at home and one in class, and the school was able to complete and fill 53 bags during the first class sessions. The fabrics were a combination of donated fabrics from the sewing school, and fabrics that students brought with them to use for the project.

“People brought in all kinds of toiletries, from soap and shampoo and toothbrushes, to toothpaste and shaving cream,” Prior said. “We also had band-aids and razors too.”

Prior’s mother Angela, has connected with a friend who was sending things to a church in Texas which would benefit those in need. Perry was pleased that her students could be part of such an outreach effort, and proud of Amber for spearheading the project herself.

“Knowing that everyone was so willing to pitch in and to donate the fabric, the toiletries and their class time to this effort was the amazing part about this,” Perry said. “It’s all about putting your talents to good use and helping out those in your community. It’s our little contribution for the big things that they are going through in Texas right now.”

Amber was pleased to see what came of her idea to help out after the hurricane, and said that she’d definitely be willing to do something like this again in the future to help others in need.

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