On Saturday afternoon, with sun pouring through the windows, the meeting room at the Alpine library was filled with the telltale signs of a sewing day: ladies sat at one of the six sewing machines set up on long tables, piles of neatly folded fabric awaited cutting, volunteers were ironing sections of flannel, and sealing the ends of ribbon to be used as ties on hospital gowns.
The gowns are the end product of Sewing For Sam, an organization brought to life by 19-year-old Tess Loarie in honor of her best friend, Samantha Bodger who was initially diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2016. The group is dedicated to constructing hospital gowns made from colorfully printed fabrics that are donated to pediatric oncology wards across San Diego county.
Loarie said that they began by wanting to donate to Rady Children’s hospital but were told that the facility often turns away donations because they receive so much; they now seek out underserved hospitals that can better utilize the donated gowns.
Kneeling on the floor, Loarie adjusts the Velcro closures on finished gowns. The gowns make a colorful pile of soft fabric printed with puppy dogs and rainbows, bright patterns and swirling polka-dots; they have a discrete slot sewn in where a port-a-cath line can be inserted. As a final touch, each one is finished off with a handwritten tag for the recipient saying that it was made with love.
The table in front of Bodger holds two baskets of hair scrunchies available for sale made from scraps too small to utilize for gowns; the profits from the homemade hair ties go toward purchasing more fabric. There is also a guest book where volunteers can leave a personal note and stickers blazoned with the Sewing For Sam logo. Finished gowns rest in a pile, each one slightly different depending on which volunteer completed the piece.
“We don’t have professional sewers but these were made with love,” Bodger said.
Sewing For Sam holds a meetup group about once a month where volunteers can come work on the gowns. Andi Keller, 13, is one who has little sewing experience but showed up to volunteer.
“Sam is my friend Aubrey’s sister and I thought that doing this would be a great way to help out and show support for their family,” Andi said.
Loarie said that she began making plans to establish a non-profit to fill this niche when she was 17, but was told by her parents that she had to be at least 18 to begin the process of apply ing for 501c3 status. Shannon Loarie confirms that she told her daughter to wait but suspected she would find a way to make it happen.
“I used to say that Tess was like a team of horses. Nothing stops her,” Loarie said of her daughter.
Three years after coming up with her idea, Loarie has a Board of Directors that regularly meets to organize monthly Sewing For Sam events. Their website is set to launch in November, they have several sponsors who have donated funding and they are just months away from obtaining their nonprofit status. According to Loarie, the most enticing part of that status is that it will render Sewing For Sam eligible for donations from Jo-Ann Fabric.
“We just finished our bylaws last week and that was an accomplishment. As soon as we hear back from the Secretary of State— hopefully it will be soon— then we can go through the I.R.S. then as soon as we finish with them we can go to the Attorney General and then we’re cleared. We have a ways to go but I’m in the Honors program at my college and my advisor is always looking for community service opportunities… As far as dealing with paperwork, Jen Doucet has been awesome. She did all the tax paperwork for the Steele Canyon Drama Booster club and she walked us through everything for free on her own time, which is really nice. I’m 19 and fresh out of my first year of college so it’s like, well, why not start a nonprofit.” Loarie said.
Bodger sinks into a chair by Loarie and relaxes into casual conversation while Phili Villalobos, 20, sews large buttons on a gown that is almost complete. Loarie streams ‘80s music from her phone; the three girls could pass for any group of college students hanging out together except that Bodger is taking the year off from college to focus on her recent cancer re-diagnosis.
Loarie and Villalobos present her with a new gown of her own to get through upcoming chemotherapy treatments, printed with cactus plants.
Bodger sits back in her chair and smiles as Loarie gently says that it was made with love, then quickly switches back to running the event.
Thank you for your coverage, Jessica and THE ALPINE SUN! These young women are so inspirational and this is such a worthy project.