Stitch and Chatter was a women’s missionary group who held their first meeting on January 13, 1972 with 13 ladies in attendance. They met twice a month and often brought their sewing machines and knitting needles along with them.
The first year they supported World Vision projects, gathered used clothing and food items for Evangel Hall (a Presbyterian mission in Toronto) and adopted a foster child from Taiwan through the Mustard Seed organization.
In 1972 they produced the following items for mission projects: 17 hygiene kits, 19 child kits, 1 sewing kit, 15 food kits, 16 pairs of pyjamas, 40 hospital gowns, 47 knitted bandages, 40 knitted shirts. Some of these items were sent to the Leprosy Mission, some to Sunnybrook Veteran’s Hospital. They had donations of $116.67 for the year.
The materials used for these projects were donated by the members. Some of the original members were Charlotte Colvin (Mary Colvin’s mother), Orma Lees (Wanda Anderson’s mother), Pat Boswell & Edith Ray (Jenn Harris and Cathy Clark’s mother & grandmother), Winnie Eakin.
As the years went by the group also made milk bag mats which are used in third world countries as stretcher mats for surgeries (can be hosed down and set in the sunshine for disinfection) as well as for sleeping mats for the poor around the world.
Moving forward to 2025, many of these types of hands-on projects are no longer needed by mission organizations, preferring to have cash donations that allow them to make or purchase items locally, thus helping the local economies of the various countries in need. We still collect postage stamps for the Leprosy Mission Canada (Effect Hope) and pop tabs for the Elora Legion for their wheelchair and disability equipment loan program (needed for folks with limited financial resources).
We organize a spring plant sale in May and a fall used book sale in conjunction with the BBQ in September. We also have tables at the Christmas Bazaar. These events raise money which enable us to monetarily support a number of local and international missions. Just this week we voted to send $200 to each of the following ministries for a total of $1000: Mustard Seed, Effect Hope (Leprosy Mission Canada), Teen Challenge, Camp Promise, Westminster Vacation Bible Camp.
This spring, after much discussion, we felt that we would like to have a name change to better reflect the current goals and purposes of our group. With Session’s approval, we have changed our name to Friends for Missions. Men and women are both welcome at our meetings. We begin with lunch at noon on the second Wednesday of the month and then have a devotional before beginning our business meeting. Sometimes we have a guest speaker.
We would like to thank the congregation at Westminster for being so supportive of our various projects.
Thank you very much for your generosity and please accept our heartfelt thanks for your support of the ministries that Friends for Missions support.