Our Story – Stitching Change

Our mission

We bring women together to work collaboratively, market their products, and provide them with supplementary income. We also work to repurpose surplus and scrap fabrics into beautiful, handcrafted products, keeping them out of the landfill and preventing pollution.

Our vision

We believe all women should have the opportunity to express their creativity while contributing to building a better society. Our resilient, refugee women work in collaboration to establish better lives for themselves, their families, and their communities.

we provide classes, a caring community, and transportation for women who live in Kansas City, as well as help to seek out markets for their handcrafted products.

Stitching Change started as I listened to women's stories of struggles as well as joys here in America and back in the refugee camps in Bhutan and Thailand. In making the crossing between those two worlds, our women have shown great strength, resilience and creativity, and they are determined to make the world a better place for themselves and their families.

Most of our women left their native lands and all the things they grew up with and moved to the United States to start an entirely new life. They have seen and experienced poverty, violence, and uncertainty in their lives, but, in spite of all these challenges, they are resilient, creative, and passionate about working to create a better life for themselves and their families and community.

We are a social enterprise focused on promoting creativity and providing sustainable income for refugee women and their families as they work to empower themselves. We offer free classes in sewing, knitting, and financial management as well as how to set up a small, home-based business. The women we work with are from the ages of 25-68 years old and have limited job and English language skills. We also strive to be an eco-friendly company and create opportunities where women can find joy and energy in what they are doing. All our products are handmade from repurposed or donated fabric.

Stitching change team

Hasta's story

Hasta Rai came to Kansas City in 2010 with her two sons and their families from Bhutan. When I first met Hasta, she looked nervous and tired, but she was very friendly and willing to learn English and other skills in order to establish her life in the US. In our ESL class, she was the first person to memorize the answers to one hundred questions for the citizenship interview. I was really amazed by her determination and strength. After spending some more time with her, I found out that she had been very sick for three years while living in a refugee camp in Nepal, but her determination to live life has brought her this far.

Hasta is not only resilient but very creative. You give her any piece of fabric or yarn, she will turn it into a beautiful hat or basket or blouse! She is also a skillful gardener and a good cook. I have been to her house many times and eaten her delicious Nepali meals. Meeting a woman like Hasta helps me to believe that every woman can be creative and can contribute to building a better economy and society if we give them space and opportunity. It was through that inspiration that Stitching Change came into being!

Heema's story

I was born in Bhutan, but my family left when I was a kid so I spent my childhood in Nepal. We lived there for 20 years as refugees. Refugee life was so hard with so many ups and downs. However, in spite of all the hardship and difficulties, I was able to go to the refugee camp's school and graduated. After my graduation, I got married with my husband, Mon Biswa and we had our first son in the camp. After staying 20 years in a refugee camp, in 2012, our family got a chance to come to the United States.

America was totally new for me and my family with different races, colors and languages. After seven months of arriving in the USA, I started my job and worked for about a year. I became pregnant so I had to stay home. During that time I was so lonely because a lot of the time I had to stay home by myself. I have nothing to do after my husband goes to work and my son goes to school.

One day, a friend told me about the Stitching Change sewing class program in our neighborhood. I thought it was a good opportunity for me to go there and learn sewing. So one Friday I went there with her. I met a wonderful person named Rakmi. She enrolled me in the program and let me and other students learn sewing every week. Before I joined the Stitching Change program, I didn't know anything about sewing or didn’t even realize that I could learn sewing skills. Since I can speak English, I also became our group leader. I started to mentor and interpret for other students. It was fun to be together -- learning, talking, laughing and sharing our stories.

Stitching Change is a wonderful organization that helps and creates a nurturing place for women to come together. We don't only come to class to share our stories and learn sewing but we are also making supplementary income. I’m thankful to all the volunteer teachers and our community supporters. I have been with Stitching Change for 5 years now and I’m still having so much fun and learning a lot.

betti's story, volunteer

I learned about Stitching Change through a mutual friend, Terrill Petri, founder of 'Women's Vision'. Terrill thought my sewing skills and desire to empower women, made me a good volunteer prospect for Stitching Change.

At first I helped by teaching the ladies to make market bags, aprons and hot pads. Communication was a challenge but these creative, motivated and resilient ladies made the job fun. It was satisfying to quickly move out of instructor role as the 'each one teach one' model took over.

Now I continue to donate a few handmade pieces to Stitching Change that are then delivered to other causes. My sewing skills have renewed purpose. I am thankful to Terrill and Rakmi for bringing me to Stitching Change.

Frieda's Story, volunteer

I had just retired when I first became acquainted with Stitching Change. In my early life, I loved to sew and this was what at first drew me to Stitching Change, but what has kept me coming back is the dedication to community building. I love to listen to the ladies chatter, gossip, laugh and sing as they sew. They learn sewing skills, some more quickly than others, and they encourage each other. As I keep track of the amount of money each of the ladies’ make, it is exciting to see how they are contributing to their families’ income, but even more exciting to see them begin to understand taxes, making items to give to others and contributing to the wider community!

Rakmi Shaiza, Founder

I was born and grew up in one of the most beautiful places on earth, a town called Ukhrul situated in Northeast India near Burma. As a girl and young woman growing up in the Eighties and Nineties there, I witnessed the hard and difficult times that our Hao (Tangkhul) tribal community went through because of drugs, AIDS, and military occupation, which resulted in much social and political unrest. I have seen friends and family members suffer from addiction, and I have attended funerals for many of them.

During this confusing time, hope, creativity, and dreams for better social and political conditions became a luxury for many of us who were lucky enough to survive. Against all odds, though, I kept dreaming of our community free from drugs, alcohol, and AIDS, and able to peacefully coexist. I believe, even in the midst of hardship and struggle, that all people, young and old, can live creatively and work together to build a vibrant and healthy community. Even today, I’m still dreaming of that possibility not only for my people but for our refugee brothers and sisters, too. I am deeply concerned about the world’s refugee problems, especially in Africa, Burma, Syria and Nepal. I think that it is possible to help those countries to build peace so that their citizens do not have to flee their own countries if all of us will do our part. I also believe that we need more women’s leadership in peacemaking, community-building, health care, education, and building a world with clean air and water, healthy food, and a livable climate.

I founded Stitching Change not only to help empower refugee women but also to be part of the change that we want to see happening in our community. I strongly believe that when women are empowered and creative, the community life becomes stronger and healthier. Our women not only learn about sewing and other skills but together we are learning how to take care of one another and extend our care to the larger global community. We are Stitching Change one person at a time.

Julie ArnoldCreative Brand Designer

Lauren MuthBRAND & WEBSITE DESIGNER

Chanuleima HijamSocial Media Manager

Our Ministry sponsors

Grandview Park Presbyterian Church, KCK // First Baptist Church, KCK

Our Community Partners

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art // Overland Park Farmers Market // The Local Pig in the River Market // Place: Mindful Interiors // Studio Humankind // Ten Thousand Villages Overland Park // Unique Finds Gifts Overland Park // Center for Sustainability at Johnson County Community College // Green Works in Kansas City // National Presbyterian Women (USA) // Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity (MORE2) // KC Farm School at Gibbs Road // Central Baptist Theological Seminary

Our Board of Directors

Tracy MacClementBoard President

Rev. Tim J SchwartzBoard Secretary

Frieda C SmithBoard Treasurer

Rachel Hostetler, LMSW

Kendra FrinkExecutive Director of Ten Thousand Villages Overland Park

Betti Kalahurka

Looking to get involved
with stitching change?

We need your help! We are looking for assistance with networking and outreach marketing, donations of fabrics, sewing notions, and supplies, as well as financial contributions. To learn more, see an overview of our needs below and then send us a message with this form.

Questions or Want to Get Involved?

1

Assist with networking & outreach marketing

We love sharing the work we're doing in the community and are looking for others to help us spread the news of our mission to those seeking support and education, or simply wanting to help.

2

donate fabrics, sewing notions & supplies

Our organization is often seeking out fabrics and other supplies for our women to use in their creations. If you have any fabrics or notions to supply, please get in touch with us before donating.

3

make a financial contribution

Our team is eternally grateful for all of the love and support shown over the years in the Kansas City community and beyond. If you'd like to make a financial contribution, please visit our link above.