The Sewing Machine Project grant awarded to Terrebonne Parish Library Dulac Branch

The Sewing Machine Project, a nonprofit group based in Wisconsin, has awarded the Dulac Branch Library with six sewing machines. The grant will enable all members of the community to continue to gather in a central location to learn and teach the art of sewing using the new equipment.

Branch Managers, Candace Chauvin and Katie Jolly, will supervise and guide the classes. Additionally, the library is planning to offer a series of weekly lessons during the summer. For more information, contact the Dulac branch at (985) 563-2014 or cchauvin@mytpl.org.

The Sewing Machine Project was conceived in March, 2005, following the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia. Margaret Jankowski, the Founder of The Sewing Machine Project, was touched deeply by the story of a woman who had lost her sewing machine in the storm, a machine she’d saved for years to buy, and, in losing it, she lost her means of earning an income.

Jankowski decided to collect donated sewing machines in Madison, Wisconsin to send to the affected regions. In partnership with the American Hindu Association, Margaret shipped 25 sewing machines to orphanages Sri Lanka and India. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in September 2005, The Sewing Machine Project’s focus shifted to that region. From 2005 to today, the SMP has delivered over 1200 sewing machines to individuals, schools and community centers in the greater New Orleans area alone. People are using them not only to rebuild their lives but also to start small sewing-related businesses.

More information at thesewingmachineproject.org