Last July, Rosemary Pursell had the privilege of coming to visit ESTHERS’
community center in Vera Cruz for 2 weeks.

Rosemary has been a child sponsor since 2008 and member of the Clarkston United Methodist Church’s (CUMC) ESTHERS Ambassadors team. CUMC sponsored Rosemary to go on the trip with a donation to purchase 2 new sewing machines for her to help start sewing classes with the girls and moms at ESTHERS in Vera Cruz. This has been a dream of ESTHERS for many years – one which they hope to eventually develop into a fair trade business with the girls and women they work with. During that time, Rosemary was able to begin teaching her students the art of sewing.

Rosemary has returned again to Brazil and is currently here developing even further this sewing ministry. With over 100 pounds of donated fabric, she is building a classroom and teaching them new skills so that the girls and moms can continue producing simple items such a bags and aprons to sell in ESTHERS’ traveling store – ESTHERS Boutique.

The sewing classroom currently has 2 sewing machines. In order to best utilize the space and time, ESTHERS hopes to purchase 4 more sewing machines. Their hope is that once these women and young girls have mastered the skill of sewing, they can move forward with their plans to begin the process of starting an official business here that would employ the moms and girls once they move onto our graduate program. Please consider making a donation to help ESTHERS purchase 4 new sewing machines (apx. $250 each). For more information about helping build this classroom, please contact Emily Sutherland at: esutherland@estherschildren.org.

Thank you to everyone who has donated fabric to the sewing classes, and especially to Rosemary for sharing her time and talents with the women and young girls here in Recife, Brazil.