Left to right: Linda Shannon-Hills, Sig Danielson, Exalted Ruler Elks, Kathleen Morgan Squires and Ira Cohen, Arizona Elks Major Projects
Several women from SaddleBrooke, SaddleBrooke Ranch and the Rancho Vistoso area are mentors for students learning to sew from teens to pre-teens living in the Oracle, San Manuel and Catalina schools. This 16-year program, called Teens Sew Cool, provides sewing classes to over 30-35 students in a nine-week session in the spring and another nine-week session in the fall. Teens Sew Cool purchases sewing machines that each student can use in classes along with sewing notions and all the fabrics. Many generous donations of fabric come from residents in the area, but funds are always needed for maintenance and repairs on the 30 machines used as well as purchasing of additional fabrics and supplies for the many projects done during these sessions. The program also provides one to two machines per year to students that qualify to be gifted their own sewing machine.
The members of the Catalina Mountain Elks Lodge No. 2815 read about the Teens Sew Cool program and asked the group to apply for their Arizona Elks Major Projects. On August 2, Sig Danielson, Exalted Ruler of the Catalina Mountain Elks Lodge No. 2815 and Ira Cohen, Arizona Elks Major Projects Coordinator, presented a check for $1,000 to Teens Sew Cool president Linda Shannon-Hills and Executive Liaison Kathleen Morgan Squires. Teens Sew Cool plans to use these funds to purchase sewing machines for students that have qualified for the TSC Student Sewing Machine Gifting program.
Teens Sew Cool is always in need of fabrics and sewing notions as well as volunteers. Go to the website www.teenssewcool.org for more details.