Grace Warner Elementary School Project
Betty Thompson and Betty Brown organized a Christmas drive for kids at Grace Warner school. You may have seen the big bins around Christmas and participated in filling them with warm gloves and mittens and gently used coats. Grace Warner ranks in the upper poverty range for Nevada schools, with 65% of the kids who attend being eligible for free lunch. Poverty is, overall, related to scholastic achievement. For example, Grace Warner ranks in the lower 50% of Nevada schools in math proficiency. Kids who are behind in the lower grades have a difficult time catching up and fulfilling their potential in life. Providing nice-looking warm coats not only helps kids stay warm but helps them “fit in” with their peers. Further, when Betty Brown took the coats to Grace Warner at Christmas time, the kids saw that someone cared and “remembered” them. Research on kids who “make it” in the midst of difficult circumstances often point to having someone who cares in their lives. We don’t always know the impact of our actions on others, but some “seeds” are nurtured and grow.
Christmas Navajo Project and Jackets for the Homeless in Reno
A couple of years ago the outdoor clothing company, Patagonia, donated large boxes of jackets that had been purchased and then returned. Many of them needed mending, done by Faith members Faith Johnson, Eileen Way, Sigrun Coffman and Gloria and Craig Svare. That winter, many boxes of the jackets were donated to Reservation-living Navajo. This winter many more boxes were donated locally, to the Good Shepard Clothes closet on Record Street.
Veteran Blanket Project
Other women from Faith, pictured below, have started making blankets to give to needy veterans. In proportion to its population, Nevada has one of the highest numbers of homeless veterans across the U.S. I spoke with one woman in the group, Becky, who had been able to give a hand-tied blanket to a Vietnam veteran friend who, while not homeless, is housebound and terminally ill. He was not cold but was in need of comfort. Receiving a hand-made and personally-delivered blanket conveyed that he was loved, and not forgotten.