The Linden High School  and George P. Austin student councils recently partnered with the Mu Eta and Nu Nu Omega Chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority for a community service sewing project.

The multi-generational project involved a day-long sewing workshop in the library at Linden High School.  At the end of the day, the result of the project was seven “quilted hugs.” These handmade shawls were donated to residents of Marengo County Nursing Home.

AKA members who helped make the quilted hugs sewing project a success are, from left, LHS librarian Marnise Stevenson, Polly Raymond, Margaret Williams, and LaDasia Rancher.

LHS Student Council advisor Mitzi Gates credits her colleague LHS librarian Marnise Stevenson, who is also a member of the Nu Nu Omega Chapter of AKA, not only with the idea for the project partnership but also with the success of the sewing workshop, which was attended by 17 students and six AKA members.

“Mrs. Stevenson always has wonderfully creative ideas for community service projects, and she’s an avid quilter, so I wasn’t surprised when she emailed me a picture of a ‘quilted hug’ as a suggestion for this year’s project,” Gates said. “What surprised me was that she wasn’t proposing that we buy the quilted hugs and let the students deliver them; she was actually proposing to teach the students to make them. And that’s exactly what she did. The sewing workshop was a grand success. The students were amazed by their hidden sewing skills, and they were so excited to know that a nursing home resident would enjoy the cozy warmth of a quilted hug that they helped make.”

One of the target programs of AKA is Seasonal Wraps, which provides season appropriate clothing for those in need, making the LHS/GPA Quilted Hugs Sewing and Sharing Project a perfect partnership opportunity, Gates said. The partnership project was funded in part by the LHS Student Council annual Boo-Gram fundraiser and in part by a donation from AKA Sorority.

The project participants were AKA members Marnise Stevenson, Margaret Williams, Polly Raymond, Adriauna Alston, LaDasia Rancher, and Roxcanna Bradley; LHS Student Council members Jordan Thomas, Dajia Miller, Briana Johnson, William Dukes, Jessica Robertson, Isaiah Scott, Amber Jenkins, Anna Scott, Kiyauna Alston, Richell Bates, Mekhel Miller, and Jakayla Rogers; and GPA Student Council members Nazranae McCoy, Urri Pond, Justin Nathan, Jolisa McCoy, and Anae Johnson.

(This article originally appeared in the Saturday, March 10 issue of the Demopolis Times.)