This is part of a weekly series introducing readers to individuals who are passionate about our Mid-Valley community.
Dresses for students in Uganda. Warm clothing for exploited women in Portland. Gowns for a hospital in Zimbabwe. Coats for an orphanage in Mexico. Hats for local cancer patients.
A small but dedicated group of sewers spends every Monday stitching up these items and more for charities throughout the Willamette Valley and across the world.
They work out of a room at Buena Vista Community Church, in the tiny Buena Vista community south of Independence.
The group started a quarter century ago as a handful of church women who got together weekly to do crafts, said Sandie Park, 67, who has been with it since the beginning and serves as its coordinator.
It’s since grown to include around a dozen women, and a few men, from churches throughout the Mid-Valley. That inspired its new name, “Common Threads,” Park said.
“Jesus Christ is our common thread. That’s what ties us together,” she said.