At Portland Baptist Church, a group of creative ladies stitch and knit gorgeous items that bring a sweet personal touch to Samaritan’s Purse (SP) boxes. The group, named the Silver Threads because of their silvering hair and their silky prowess with handicrafts, lovingly make enough to fill 25 boxes per year.
The boxes are packed and submitted to SP by Rock Church, which is just down the road from Portland Baptist. At Christmas time, SP delivers the boxes all around the world to children living in poverty.
“Silver Threads was started around 15 years ago by two ladies, Margaret Hope and Joy Simpson, who really loved their sewing and wanted to pass on the skills and enjoyment to others in a church setting,” said current coordinator, Robyn Dalliston. “The group is a lovely community where we encourage each other, chat and spend time together – and it’s as much about that as the work these days!”
Members sew dresses and shorts to an SP pattern, plus lined toiletry bags and pencil cases. Knitted items include beanies, teddy bears and toy animals. They also sew large bags to carry everything in once the SP delivery box has worn out.
The cost of sending so many boxes overseas is not cheap – throughout the year, many members of the church pitch in to raise the funds. “This has become a mission initiative in our church,” Robyn said. “At one stage we were struggling to raise the money to send the boxes and the Mission Support Group offered to help. We’re a country community, and many people at our church have farms and properties where produce is grown. When there is an over-supply of produce, people bring the extras to church and the mission group uses this to raise money for the boxes.”
Silver Threads welcomes members of the general public who want to participate. One member met the group through a church market day and although she doesn’t attend the church and isn’t able to do her sewing at Silver Threads meetings, she still contributes beautiful items sewn at home and often drops in for a hot drink and a chat.
At the end of all their hard work, the Silver Threads know that someone around the world will enjoy using the items they have made. “I think that’s the main reason why we do it,” Robyn said. “It’s more personal when the things we are giving are handmade. It’s great to have a group for women our age where we are doing something that we thoroughly enjoy, which produces something exciting and helpful for children in need.”