It all started with an idea back at the beginning of the pandemic. Faith Community Nurse Michelle Anderson approached OSL’s Peace by Piece quilting ministry team with a request to create Personal Hygiene Bags to give to women on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The idea was embraced by our quilters and became part of their ministry outreach.
This past June, during the South Dakota Synod Assembly, Pr. Dan Johnson from the Pine Ridge Reconciliation Center stopped in to visit the quilters during one of the breaks in the sessions. The Personal Hygiene Bag project came up again, and Pr. Dan asked if our quilters could make a few more to give to the women of Pine Ridge. The quilters agreed, and Pr. Dan said he would return the second week in August to pick up the bags. The ladies decided to set a goal of 50 bags to give to women of Pine Ridge, but God had a bigger blessing in mind through their efforts: as of this writing, over three hundred Personal Hygiene Bags will be sent with Pr. Dan to Pine Ridge to be distributed between Native Connections and the Schools of Pine Ridge.
Over 22 quilters participated in this wonderful project through sewing, donating hygiene items to fill each bag, and providing zippers, materials, and supplies to create them. It has truly been a team effort and a labor of love that will bless so many women in need on the Pine Ridge. Well done, ladies!
The bags will be blessed in worship services on August 13 and 14, during the Offering. Please come and celebrate this amazing service project with us, and give thanks to our quilters for their amazing ministry efforts here at OSL!
—Pr. Tim Lemme