Photo Courtesy of Marlene Pitt
Photo Courtesy of Marlene Pitt
Eight years ago, Helga Wade, a head deaconess at Owensboro Church in Owensboro, Ky., was devasted. Her husband had just passed away, and she felt displaced. Despite the hard times, Wade made a decision to use her time to help someone else instead.
“I told myself, ‘I’m not going to sit here on a couch and get depressed or get sad and upset. I’ve got to find something to do,’” said Wade.
That’s when she learned about It’s My Very Own (IMVO), a nonprofit organization that creates care packages called Bags of Love for children in need. With the support of the Owensboro Church, Wade began a new chapter of IMVO in Daviess County.
The church reserved two rooms for volunteers: one for storage and one for work. Each Wednesday morning, volunteers meet to prepare the items for the care package. Each Bag of Love is filled with handmade quilts, toys, and toiletries according to age.
“Many of the children that we help do not have much with them,” Wade said. “Sometimes they are taken from their homes and can’t bring anything. So, with [Bags of Love] children get something that they can call their own.”
Wade receives requests for bags from foster agencies, child advocacies centers, shelters, and churches across the area. Each order differs in size, some needing just one Bag of Love, and others needing up to 40.
When COVID-19 hit, Wade began meeting the request from The Owensboro Medical Center Chaplaincy Program, who wanted the handmade quilts for terminally ill patients, and the Bags of Love for children in urgent care.
“Every time a child gets in a helicopter and the parents cannot go with them, [hospital staff] give him or her a bag,” Wade said. “It helps them get their mind off of the helicopter while they are being transferred to another hospital.”
Each bags costs around $40 to $50 to make. This money comes completely from donations and, according to Wade, sometimes people donate stuffed animals or cloth for the quilts instead. Before sending each Bag of Love, the volunteers pray for the children who will receive it.
“The main thing we want to do is show the children that they are loved and wanted,” Wade said. “My hope is that [this program] will continue to grow and touch lives.”
Any church interested in starting a chapter of “It’s My Very Own” Bags of Love can contact Susan Schnell at 423-408-3142 or susan@imvo.org
Kentucky-Tennessee | December 2021
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