Maine needleworkers should consider mentoring program

Recently I received the Leadership Guide from the Needle Arts Mentoring Program, whose motto is “Stitching generations together.” The program got its start in the usual way – two women saw a need and started stitching. Those two women, Marilyn North and Bonnie Lively, developed a fiber arts program for at-risk pupils at a middle school in Seaside, Ore., in 1997. The success of that program led them to create the Needle Arts Mentoring Program, a project of the Helping Hands Foundation. The mentoring program is currently in the process of expanding nationwide.

The purpose of the mentoring program, according to its mission statement, is to “create community partnerships which promote and encourage

relationships between adults and youth, fostering curiosity, creativity and a feeling of achievement through the teaching of needle arts.” Mentors work one-on-one with youth.

Lively believes that the program can foster positive relationships between children and adults, and serve to bolster the needlework industry. Passing on needlework skills to a younger generation may create a future demand for yarns, fabrics, thread and supplies. Not surprisingly, the program receives financial support from yarn and needlework related entities such as the National Needlework Council, The Yarn Group, Coats and Clark, Plymouth Yarn Co. and The Craft Council of America.

The guide outlines the steps for forming local chapters of the mentoring program, how to do mentor training, how to interest children in taking part in the program and how to gather supplies. It also includes a section on the logistics of setting up a program, discussing location, transportation, snacks and publicity. The guide’s appendix gives simple directions for knitted afghan squares, a crocheted granny square and a knit or crochet bookmark.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no Needle Arts Mentoring Program in Maine, although programs have sprung up in Virginia and Florida. I think it would be a good idea if Maine needleworkers embraced our state motto – Dirigo (I lead) – and established needlework mentoring programs in their towns.

According to the guide, a volunteer coordinator is needed to administer the program. The coordinator serves as a liaison between mentors and organizations such as schools seeking mentors; recruits and trains mentoring staff; monitors and distributes supplies and snacks; and is responsible for weekly sign-ins. The guide suggests that local needlework guilds, yarn shops, senior citizen centers, assisted care facilities and churches are a good place to seek mentors.

To obtain a free copy of the guide, visit www.needleartsmentoring.org, call (503) 325-4749, or write: Helping Hands Foundation Inc., PO Box 813, Astoria, OR 97103.

Snippets

. Redeemer Lutheran Church has two bags full – of yarn that needs knitters and crocheters to create hats, mittens and scarves for its Fall Festival 2004 fair, or to hang on the Jesse Tree in December. Call the church at 945-3166 to learn more about how to lend a hand.

. Marilyn Kay of Orrington would like to bring readers’ attention the Knit-A-Cap Project, which provides winter caps to American Indian children, whose schools are administered by the U.S. Office of Indian Education Programs. To learn more about the program, call Kay at 825-4724 or Lana Shaughnessy at the U.S. Department of the Interior, (202) 208-3601.

. I suppose it was inevitable. Writer Leslie Petrovski reports in the current issue of Vogue Knitting International magazine that twentysomething knitters are proclaiming their passion for the craft by getting tattoos of knitting motifs such as balls of yarn, sheep and Aran cable patterns. Apparently the trend has not yet reached the Bangor area, according to an Orono tattoo artist I spoke with.

Ardeana Hamlin welcomes comments, suggestions and ideas. Call her at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.