ELM CREEK, Neb. — Three months ago, Justine Bauer had never sewn.
Now, the Elm Creek eighth-grader is teaching others as part of the National Pillowcase Project.
Participants sew colorful pillowcases and donate them to local charities as a way to cheer people up.
Bauer, daughter of Rick and Renee Bauer. is doing the project through Family, Career and Community Leaders of America.
“I researched service projects online and came across the National Pillowcase Project. I liked it just because there’s so many different ways you can take it,” she said. “We make pillowcases for women who are in safe houses, children in hospitals, foster children and people in nursing homes.”
Bauer set a goal to make 130 pillowcases before the district FCCLA competition Jan. 27. With help from other Elm Creek students and 4-H’ers, 145 pillowcases have been completed.
“And counting,” she added.
Bauer applied for a grant from the Buffalo County Youth Advisory Board and received $200 to buy fabric. She also received donated fabric from Quality Sew & Vac in Kearney, Quilter’s Delight in Holdrege and Walmart.
Robyn Hubbert, Elm Creek’s family and consumer sciences teacher and FCCLA adviser, said asking for help was a challenge for Bauer.
“One of the things I like about these projects is it puts kids in leadership situations they haven’t been in before. It forces them out of their comfort zone,” Hubbert said.
She said one thing Bauer did was make follow-up phone calls to businesses asking for donations.
“That was probably one of the hardest parts because she was scared that people would say no, which some of them did, and we talked about how she would handle that. ... I think one of the things she realized is without that kind of help the project would be dead in the water. She’s done a great job,” Hubbert said.
Bauer organized after-school sewing meetings for students to make the pillowcases. She prepared for the meetings by cutting out the fabric and making individual pillowcase kits.
At the meetings, she helped teach other students how to thread the sewing machines and make the pillowcases.
“When I began, it took almost two hours. But now I can get them done in 45 minutes. It ranges for the other people doing them, just depending on how their skills are developed,” she said. “I had never sewn three months ago, and now I’m teaching kids how to sew.”
Bauer said her favorite part of the project so far was when she delivered pillowcases to ill children at the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s Christmas party.
“It was just the fact that they were so excited. It’s something so little that you can do, but they were so overwhelmed with joy. It makes me feel warm inside to know I’m helping them,” she said.
Bauer said the pillowcases are a small way to cheer up people who may be going through a tough time.
The cases have been donated in Kearney, Elm Creek and Holdrege. She also plans to take some to Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha.
“We’ve had an FCCLA here for 10 years and we’ve done some really big projects,” Hubbert said. “But I would say this is probably the biggest one we’ve ever tackled just because there’s so many individuals involved in the sewing. She had to reach out to so many different places to get the money and the funding.”
A male teacher at Elm Creek has made the most pillowcases for the project, and is even competing with one of the students to see who can make the most.
Bauer said she is pleased and surprised that the project has been so successful. “I thought it was going to be difficult to reach the goal. I didn’t know if that was going to be too high to reach,” she said.
Bauer said she has enough kits left to do at least 250 pillowcases.
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