When illness or death leave craft projects unfinished, these strangers step in to help

Loose Ends, a program started by Masey Kaplan and Jen Simonic, connects volunteers with unfinished craft projects left when a person dies or becomes disabled.

Origins of Loose Ends: Kaplan and Simonic were inspired to found the program after completing several projects for friends who had lost relatives.
* They launched the program in August 2022, anticipating they would find a pre-existing network offering such a service, but when they couldn’t, they decided, “it has to.”

Impact and Reception: Since its inception, Loose Ends has matched over 600 unfinished projects, such as blankets, quilts, and mittens, with talented craftspeople who can complete them.
* The organization has gained 9,100 volunteers from 42 countries who wish to offer their crafting skills to finish projects.
* The founders are surprised by the eager response and are working on becoming a tax-exempt organization to raise funds and introduce administrative help.

A Case Study: Artist Donna Savastio was unable to finish a rug due to Alzheimer’s, leaving only a few rows unfinished.
* Jan Rohwetter, a volunteer through Loose Ends, offered to complete the rug, considering it a meaningful task as she had recently lost her parents, her mother to dementia.
* Rohwetter finished the rug while adding a special touch of Savastio’s scarf tassels to mark the spot of transition between the two crafters’ work.

Organizational Vision: Simonic and Kaplan’s primary satisfaction comes from “watching strangers take care of each other” regardless of political, religious or other potentially divisive identities.
* They see their work as providing people the opportunity to relate at a human level while bringing comfort to each other.

View original article on NPR

This summary was created by an AI system. The use of this summary is subject to our Terms of Service.

Contact us about this post

Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *