katerini quilts started initially with 2 single moms and a young widow who needed help to provide basic needs for their families including food. in greece many women in this situation simply put their children in an orphanage. but several people knowledgeable about the orphan society, benjamin house, (initially tracy and mary marks who now help with support from the US and ignatios meimaris and his wife nena who have stepped in to continue our efforts further) learned about my desire to use quilting to help poor women provide for their family's needs through quilting and gave me the opportunity to meet with these women and put my ideas to work. this group has now grown into 5 women who are currently making quilts and selling them through an online store at: kateriniquilts.weebly.com. we will continue to work with these women on business skills and computer usage with a computer that was donated for this purpose.
benjamin house is an orphan society that works to help families like these with food supplements, summer camps for their kids and other programs; and they are currently working with the greek authorities to establish a first ever greek-wide program for the adoption of children who are without parents to take care of them. when individuals or groups donate money to benjamin house, benjamin house can then use those donations to support the work of the women who are quilting. our ultimate goal is to teach the business/computer skills necessary for them to succeed and to tap into grant monies that will equip these women to open a first ever quilt shop in katerini, greece later this year. on saturday we moved these women into a quilting studio that could potentially become that shop.
we are all soooo excited at this milestone and yet there is so much more we need to work through in the power of the Lord to successfully accomplish this vision we all believe He has laid on our hearts. these women are learning so much more than quilting or business skills as they work together with us on team building, personal character development, and other important principles that will equip them for life and success in the business world. we have been using the book of proverbs each month when we meet as a spring board for discussion that we hope will enable the women to apply these important principles appropriately to their individual circumstances. we are trying hard to listen to their personal needs and help them find the resources that might be available to meet those needs within the community where they live.
so below i have added a slide show for you to see the events of our day:) we all went to a local restaurant after our move and were treated for lunch!! yay. we just had a great time of fellowship together and talked about our strategies. i have also included some photos from louisa's garden plot where she grows vegetables that she later sells at the local framer's market. some of us went over with her and her son theodoros to see what she was growing.