Senior Gabriella Rado has learned that many sisters in the Archdiocese have been living with collars and coifs that are fraying and literally falling apart, since nearly all the manufacturing companies that once made these items for nuns have gone out of business. Gabriella is an Ambassador Girl Scout, pursuing her Gold Award through a project she began during the pandemic called Sew Kind. With the help of her sewing mentor, Debbie Fela, and former Kennedy Catholic school nurse, Barbara Rendich, Gabriella has delivered her first batch of 20 collars to the Sisters of the Oblates to the Blessed Trinity of Hopewell Junction. Sister Shyne Mathai, OBT, expressed the need for the collars and coifs after reading about Sew Kind in a local parish bulletin.
“This project was more complicated than I first thought. It required two different types of fabric that ultimately came from Massachusetts as well as the use of a Serger Sewing Machine,” says Gabriella, who teaches children to sew each weekend at the Boys and Girls Club in the Cities of Newburgh and Poughkeepsie. “To be honest, I had serious doubts as to whether I could pull this off, but the sisters kept praying for us and, obviously, it worked.”
To learn more about how you can help, visit SewKind.org, Facebook or follow on Instagram @SewKindNY.
