Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona Partners with two Tucson Rotary Clubs
Encouraging Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Financial Independence
Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona (GISA) is proud to announce an ongoing partnership with the Rotary Club of Tucson Sunrise and Rotary Club of Bali Ubud Sunset (RCBUS) to provide yarn to Balinese women in the Sewing for Living program, expanding the project in new directions and enhancing the community.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis, Sewing for Living began in 2019 when RCBUS President, Kartika Dewi, launched the program to teach local women sewing machine and crochet skills. Teaching these marketable skills empowered work from home opportunities that supported their families, allowed them to make their own money, and amplified their self-esteem through the pandemic and beyond.
Working with the Rotary Club of Tucson Sunrise, GISA has already provided hundreds of skeins of yarn to Sewing for Living. This donation expands the program to also teach school children in rural areas of Bali to crochet, gaining early access to a skill they can rely on in the future for financial and economic stability. The expansion also creates an opportunity to work with dementia patients in local hospitals, rolling the skeins to practice their fine motor skills and benefit from group socialization.
“Goodwill of Southern Arizona is honored to be a part of such an amazing collaboration with Tucson Sunrise Rotary and Rotary Club Bali Ubud Sunset. Sewing for Living is an example of something positive coming out of an extremely challenging time,” stated Goodwill Director of Marketing and Tucson Sunrise Rotary Member, Matthew Flores. “With each partner doing their part, we were able to quickly come together and provide resources to a community in dire need of support.”
Sewing for Living, GISA and the Rotary Clubs of Bali Ubud Sunset and Tucson Sunrise share in the mission to create skilled workers and a vision that helps those skilled workers achieve financial independence. These skeins of yarn are mainly used to make hats, bags and toy animals, which are priced individually and sold at local markets or shipped around the world to support communities and culture. A notable product made by the crafters are toy orangutans, a portion of the funds from each toy sold goes to feeding the endangered orangutan population in Indonesia.
Marion Hook, RCBUS member and Sewing for Living representative since its inception, explained the global impact these yarn donations generate, “In the past several years, Sewing for Living hats, purchased by people around the world, have appeared on the heads of children in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico and Milwaukee, Wisconsin as well as those in need between the ages of 18 and 30 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.”
The continued collaboration between these organizations will ensure the Sewing for Living program can progress in its workforce development mission, enhancing the local economy in Bali and simultaneously giving back to communities with the beautiful pieces made by the trained craftsmen.
About Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona:
Serving Southern Arizona since 1969, the mission of Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona has always been to offer a “hand up” for those looking to make a better life for themselves and their family. The Goodwill team works every day to help support individuals and build a better Southern Arizona through the POWER OF WORK! Thanks to the generosity of our community, Goodwill is able to offer skills, remove barriers and open pathways to independence for local families in need.
About Sewing for Living:
Founded in 2019 Sewing for Living teaches Balinese women to sew using sewing machines and to crochet. Traditionally, Balinese women have held multiple jobs: take care children and family, doing all the housework, providing help to the community, and assisting at temple and cultural events, among other duties. It is important for women to make their own money, not only for their self-esteem, but to enable each of them to support her entire family. Sewing for Living teaches marketable skills that women can use from their homes to support financial independence.
About Rotary:
Rotary is a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves. The Rotary Club of Bali Ubud Sunset and the Rotary Club of Tucson Sunrise are made up of members from their local communities coming together to offer “service above self”. Rotary members believe that we have a shared responsibility to take action on our world’s most persistent issues.
