Melissa: Several years ago, Christy Wright felt nudged to more intentionally start using her gifts and talents to make a difference in the world. She had always loved doing long arm quilting and decided that was where she could make her contribution. She started off with a small group of women who worked together making and donating quilts to different causes. But then she started having other groups reach out to her who wanted to help or needed service projects to do. And that's when she realized what her real role was. Now her nonprofit, Stitching Hearts worldwide, provides service opportunities for individuals, groups, and businesses wanting to help those in need. They provide the necessary tools and materials to make handmade, essential items for people in local communities and all over the world who suffer from natural disasters, human injustices, or other unforeseen tragedies beyond their control. As Christy says so perfectly in this episode, it's not always about how many projects they produce, but more about the many people that are getting the opportunity to serve. I love this interview. There were a few technical difficulties when we recorded, but thankfully, Christy's complete genuineness and caring heart come through, listen to this episode and be inspired by her story and get the reminder of how powerful it can be to create and serve with other people. Welcome to the Do Something more podcast, a service oriented show where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more. I'm your host, Melissa Drapery. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome to another episode of the podcast. And today we are learning about an organization called Stitching Hearts. And if you love learning about how you can use your hands to make things to serve others, I think this will be the episode for you. But today on the podcast, I have the founder and executive director, Christy Wright. So, Christy, welcome to the show.
Krysti: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited, Melissa, to be on and talk to you about this, something I love talking about.
Melissa: Yes, we're excited to have you on. So why don't you just start off by giving us a small introduction of yourself and then tell us a little bit about the mission and purpose of stitching hearts.
Krysti: My name is Christy Ryden. I have eight children. I started when my children were mostly grown. I ran into a talk by Sister Esplan and he asked us to be his hands. It was so inspiring to me that I listened to it and read it, and I followed the counsel in it, and she talks about having to look and see what your talents are, find resources that you have and counsel together. Pull your shirt sleeves up. We'll ask if that's something that you should do and then just pull your shirt sleeves up and get to work. So when I got started, I just. I would wake 430 in the morning, and I tell you what, my. I couldn't. I just started writing down as much as I could. It would just load it onto the paper. And I did a lot of that until finally I'm like, I don't have any more answers in my head. So I. In that talk, she asked you to go in and make sure this is something that you should do. And I did. And I felt very strongly that this is my mission in life. So with that trepidation, I'm a mother of eight, right? With no skill in business, I just. I didn't know how to start a bit. I did not know how to start it. And a nonprofit is a business, right? You have to know to keep it going. I just didn't look backwards. I just did roll my shirt sleeves up. I ran into a lady who'd been doing service for over 25 years. Her name is Rogan Gunther, and she, over the next couple of months, donated thousands of yards of fabric. Well, at that point, I had been a long arm quilter, so I knew I wanted to do something with quilting, and I had a business. And then I just started, okay, well, let's making quilts. So we started making quilts. She was sending them down to places. I got a phone call about six months in from doing this work with her, and I started asking others to help me put these quilt tops together and start quilting by tying or doing long arms. And by the time we got six months in, I did get this phone call from lifting hand international, Tracy, who asked if I could help quilts. They were sending out a trailer to Lebanon. I think it was Jordan, and they were 40 foot trailer, and they needed quilts. So I thought, okay, let's do this. And when I went to talk to this other lady, she said, christy, you have a mission that's different than mine, and you need to just find a place for your own quilt. And Tracy had told me about the refugees that were out on the desert floor, and they needed these pools, quilts or something to just keep the snakes and the scp off them. My heart was just melting, and I thought, I want to do something to make a difference. So by that first trailer that went out, we sent ten quilts. And since then, we've sent thousands of quilts overseas. We've also sent quilts here locally to homeless children in Salt Lake City. And just all over refugees coming over the border, those that are being replaced. It's just amazing to see how that happened.
Melissa: I love that story of how you got started. I have met so many quilters that have such giving hearts, wanting to use those skills that you have. And that was actually the first person we featured on the podcast was my mother in law, who is also a quilter and has served in many ways in the same way. So I just love hearing that story, how you're inspired to want to share those gifts you've been given with others in so many unique ways. So that was kind of the beginnings of stitching hearts. Where did you go from there? How did you start growing to where you are today?
Krysti: Well, once I started with working with Tracy and lifting hands international, we started gathering volunteers, and I had this fabric that we were working to just make into quilts. As many as we could. We were able to. We were working out of my garage for a long time. And then we did have, for a period of time, somebody who had offered to let us use the basement of their home. So we would have ladies from the ward or from the stake would come and just neighbors and people that we had gathered together and we'd started working. And it was interesting because then we got introduced to Weister Refugee group, which is where we started doing events. And it was. It was really interesting that when I first got started, I thought it was all about the number of quilts or products that we were making. That was what it was all about. But after I met the BYU yserve, they asked me to come. They were so tired of making geckos. They wanted to do something of real importance, right? So we went that first week and they did quilts, and we had them doing the sleeping mats where you're weaving the plastic bags. And we had them just. I mean, there were so many things that they were doing. There were about 60 to 80 BYU students there that day. And at the end of the night, they were begging me to come back the next week, and I had no idea. But I tell you what, it was the best thing ever, because I started watching. Week after week, we would load my van, drive it down, unload it at the dock at the Wilkinson center. What I saw was so impressive, and it really impressed on my mind what my mission really was. And it's not about how much we produce. It was about who we were allowing to help serve. These kids would be smiles. Their phones were down, they were interacting with each other. They were laughing and they were working hard, but they were having so much fun. And we tried to make it fun for them. Right? So they get a quilt done, and they'd yell, another quilt done, or they'd get a mat done, and they'd yell, another mat done. And it was just so fun to see them jumping into this. And they were eating it up. And they would come week after week. And now fast forward four and a half years later, they are still doing that at Weisserve refugees. Every Wednesday night you can see students, and they were through the years, it's like 100 to 200 students that show up and they are loving it. And I knew right when that first week that we saw that, I knew it was about what the people that were doing the service was getting out of it. So I started making the effort to do it in parts and pieces. So we had seamstresses. Not everybody knew how to sew. So we would have people say, you're doing a backpack. Well, we'd have the ladies sew the outside edge, and then they would do a casing, and then we'd stop. We wouldn't have the ladies finish that backpack because we would send it to the BYU students or to any other students because we started doing events with young men, older women. Cosgrove Catholic School, they asked us to come and serve. We worked with the islamic mosque, and they were just anybody, and everybody loves to serve, but we were providing them with the equipment, with the material, with everything that they needed to serve. And we took that part out and then we just allowed them to serve. And they were loving it. And it is so much, it gives me so much joy to watch somebody else have the ability to get confidence, to feel like they're self worth skyrocket. That's what we are doing. So we're found a way to split up our different processes. So I don't know if you want me to keep on going. I can tell. No, we can get into that.
Melissa: But I love that. I love that you started with that Weiser group, which is for anyone listening that doesn't know, that's a service group on the campus of Brigham Young University and saw it spread from there. And yes, that is actually an episode I just did on service and mental health. But service can do so many good things for all of us that get involved in it. And then that idea of doing it together with a group of people, too, when you're creating together and working together is really powerful as well. But as you've now mentioned, that's allowed you to do more because you, you kind of split up those different processes or things. So, yeah, go ahead and get into that for a little bit.
Krysti: Well, so actually, thinking about this, I have a story I wanted to tell you. When we were doing the yserf, who had the University of Utah and UVu, they wanted to do service as well. So Uvu, where they were helping us, we would have them. We took batting and we'd have them pin. So to make a quilt, you're pinning it, and then you have somebody sew around the outside. It's called enveloping. So there's a different, you know, processes. But these kids would start, were starting things for us, a pinning, and then that would allow us to have enough quilts for them to quilt, because they were doing, like, four quilts a night when we would go. And then we were doing this now twice a week. So you can imagine how much batting we were using. My husband and I, we got to the point where we counseled again together. And I have to give my husband a shout out, because when we first talked together and counseled, he was very supportive of me. And when I started bringing fabric home, because this lady brought in thousands of yards of fabric at the very beginning to get started. And every time I bring a car load of fabric home, my husband would say, oh, looks like we need to go buy shelves. So he would trot down to Costco and buy me more shelves. My garage was filled. I mean, the cars moved out. They still haven't moved back in. But it is. It was, it was amazing, but it was expensive, and we were coming. It was coming out of our pocket. We are not the wealthiest people in the world. And we just thought it got to the point where my husband's like, christy, we can't keep affording this because we were up to, you know, like, $7,000, and we're like, we can't keep doing this. So he said, okay. I said, okay, well, I'll start asking for donations. Well, we started asking around for donations, and we were down to our last roll of batting. So a roll of batting. If, for those who don't know, 30 yards, we would get twelve to 14 quilts a night that we were doing. And sometimes that was two times a week that we were doing that. So two rolls of batting that next couple of days, after that night that we had done our last row of batting, I got a phone call from some friends of mine who are working with gathering humanity in Arizona, and I had told them before that I'd love to help them with more quilts. We were sending some of our quilts down there as well. I said, well, I need batting. I need some donation money so I can buy my batting. So they called up and they had a gentleman on the phone and he said, I hear that you need some money for batting. How much do you need? And he gave me my 1st donation money. And it was so touching to me that it wasn't just him offering, because that was huge that he would offer that. And he was amazing man, that has donated much more than that to us. But it was that I knew the Lord was in charge. I knew that he cared and that he knew what I was trying to do and he was there for me. But I had to go to the very brink. I had to be able to put my foot forward in faith and trusting that he would come through. And he did and he has over and over again.
Melissa: That's a beautiful story. And we hear stories like that on this podcast all the time where you put a little faith into what you're doing, what you felt inspired to do. And it's amazing how the opportunities and the people or even the money that shows up to help you in that process. So I love that. Thank you so much for sharing. Yeah, well, you've mentioned the quilts and you kind of mentioned some other things, but you don't just do quilts now. You have projects for all sorts of things. Do you want to just kind of COVID some of those?
Krysti: Sure. I did mention a little bit about backpacks. We do the drawstring backpacks, which are in great need. We do receiving blankets and items, burp rags, things for babies. We do the sleeping mats, and those are made out of woven grocery bags. A lot of people have seen those. We have looms. We rent out our looms and our quilting frames for a small fee so that people take them to their own event if you're going to host your own event. We also do things like marble mazes, which are help with someone who's autistic or anxious. We have the lovies that we make, which is about a 16 by 16 square with a little corner face of a little animal and some little ears. And those are for the children that we have sent. We have sent some to those who are traffic victims. And I don't know if you're. You want me to finish the list, but I just. Another story popped up.
Melissa: Yeah, I'd love to hear it. Go ahead.
Krysti: Okay. Okay. We sent a bunch of these lovies to Alabama. I have a friend, she said that there were some people that really needed that help. So we sent a box full of these lovies and some sleeping mats, and she distributed them. And we got a picture back a couple weeks with a lady who was the adopted mother. This was a product of human trafficking. So it was a little baby, and this mother had adopted the baby, and she sent a picture with this lovey that she's holding the baby and this lovey. And she said how much lovey comforted not only the baby, but her as well. As they're going through this really hard time and grateful for these small little things, I mean, it's something it doesn't take to make a lovie. It doesn't take a lot to make a backpack. But for the person who has nothing to put in the back, for the person who needs the comfort and the love, that is what is. We are portraying our love through our hands to others as we're making these items.
Melissa: Yeah. And I love how you share that. It's simple. Those simple, handmade items really can make a difference and help someone feel love in a moment when they need to fill it and feel connected. So. But, yes, I'd love to hear any other stories you want to share.
Krysti: It's really interesting because the way that we were finding out where we gave a lot of our stuff to lifting hands, and then we started getting some of the pictures back of where those were going, and it was amazing to see you see a picture with something that you recognize the fabric. We know that we touched that fabric, that we worked with that fabric. And it is so satisfying to see that halfway around the world, all the way around the world in a little girl's hands as it's being donated to her or to a mother with a baby in her arms. It is just so satisfying to know that our efforts are getting to the people. It's a really wonderful opportunity to be in the position that I am in so that I can see both sides. The person who made that item and the person who's receiving that item.
Melissa: Yeah, that's beautiful.
Krysti: So I did want to tell you a lot of. Since we got started and I had that fabric, we started asking people to donate. My thought process is, there's a lot of ladies in this valley who have a lot of fabric stashed in their basement. And my goal is to get that fabric all in one place where we can all work on it. And the synergy of all of that fabric can do so much good. Well, we started getting people that were bringing their fabrics to us, and we roll it on cards for some of the fabrics, and we have others. Then we started getting fabrics from Riley Blake designs. And I'm telling you what, Cindy Cloward and her husband are the most generous people you will ever find. And they have donated thousands of yards of fabric to us. I can't say enough about how grateful I am for them and their generosity. Because of them, thousands of people have been blessed. I just this recently, we were given the opportunity to help make some quilts. We made 500 quilts for the homeless youth in Salt Lake City. We were asked by the yes program with the granite school district, and they have a lot of those children. And, well, it's anywhere from a young child is kindergarten up past high school. And these kids are just in really bad situations. Some of them are living with families in two bedroom apartments where they have 14 kids lined up on the floor. They have others who are in the foster care system, and they have nothing really to call their own worker that I've been working with. We donated the quilts to them, and she came back the last time to pick up the last load and said that she had gone to this. They're giving these kids these quilts on their birthdays. She'd ask this boy who it was his birthday. She said, hey, I have a quilt for you. And he said, oh, my gosh, did you make this for me? And she told them, no, I didn't make it for you. But a lot of people who care about you did. And then she told them about stitching hearts and how all these women and these men who are working on these quilts and all the effort that went into that, that there was probably about 20 people, and that's what we figure, about 20 to 25 people are touching and doing something to create a quilt. He was impressed. He wanted to know how he could thank us. So this young gentleman had been involved or trying to. Fighting, gang involvement, just. He had a really rough life. So. But he turned to her and said, is there any way I have to go home on the bus tonight? And is there any way you can call my foster family and have them come and pick this quilt up? I know if I take this on the bus, somebody's gonna steal it from me. And it was just so touching to think that he knew what would happen to this quilt. But he might not have known how much work went into that quilt, but he immediately, when he saw that quilt, we felt the love that was meant for him from that quilt, and he.
Melissa: Wanted to keep it, wanted to keep that with him. So what a beautiful story. And now all that fabric is in a warehouse. You don't have it in your garage anymore, is that right?
Krysti: That's right. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. About four years in, after we had somebody who graciously offered to have perhaps the rent going into their warehouse, and then we just, we recently just were able to get into a little bit larger space, and immediately we've been in it for three months, and we had Riley Blake donate more fabric to us, and we're, again, full capacity. But I tell you, there's so much. It's so fun. So it's like being in a fabric store. I've always dreamed of having a fabric store, and I have one just about now, but it's going to serve others.
Melissa: Yeah. The most beautiful kind of fabric store. Well, I just love hearing all these stories and seeing how you've kind of evolved from doing these projects yourself to really becoming an organization that helps connect people to those opportunities to serve and doing those projects. Because many times, many of us, we want to serve. We want to do those things, but we always don't know where to start or how to go about the process. So it just seems like that your organization is just doing a great service with that, with connecting and giving people opportunities to serve that have the desire to.
Krysti: Yeah, we're so grateful for that ability to be able to do that. We feel very blessed with the warehouse that we have now. We have space, we have sewing machines set up. We have surgery. We need more volunteers to come to our warehouse to help work. We also have area managers. We have about 30 to 40 area managers all up and down the street of Utah. If you happen to want to work from home, we have kits that are available from home. Or come down and help us put the kits together at the warehouse. You can have events at the warehouse. You can sign up online and do event, or you can come during the work hours. We're open Monday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. To, to 03:30 p.m. And on Fridays we're open from ten to 1230. So what we really need right now are more willing hands. We need people to be able to put these quilts and fabrics together to make more, to bless more lives.
Melissa: Yes. Well, I will put a link to your website so that anyone listening can go and sign up or see some of those opportunities that are available. And then, Christy, we have listeners from all over, so I also love kind of ending each episode with just a general advice and encouragement. So what general advice and encouragement would you give to anyone that's wanting to serve in this way with these handmade items, or how would you encourage them to act on some of those thoughts they've had?
Krysti: If you've got that heart, it's really important that you just do something, because everybody has that innate inside. If they have cultivated that service oriented thoughts. And as you go forward, don't worry about what you're doing. Just reach out and do something. Smile. Just give somebody an ear, listening ear. Just simple little things. It doesn't have to be a big production. I think we need to get away from doing the big production. I see some of these sweet ladies that are coming into my warehouse. There's one that comes in and she is a special needs, and her caretaker brings her in. And she was so excited that she had learned how to crochet a hat. And she told me so excitedly that she had crocheted this. And to me, it doesn't matter what skill level you have, if you have that desire in your heart to serve, you are serving God. Not only are you serving your fellow man, but you are serving God. And he is. He shows his gratitude to you. And as you serve, you feel better about yourself. You have a better sense of who you are and that you are priceless. No matter where you are, no matter what's done to you, no matter what you've had in your life, the Lord loves you, and you can love others through your acts of service.
Melissa: That's such beautiful advice. I just want to add, as someone who is not a quilter and sower, anyone can do it. Anyone can really step in there. I've had many a person instruct and show me how to do it so well. Christy, thank you so much for being on the show today and for being willing to come on and share about all the beautiful things stitching heart does. Just some last thoughts from you.
Krysti: I'm so grateful, Melissa, that you have asked me to be a part of this podcast, and thank you again for this opportunity.
Melissa: That concludes my interview with Christy Wright, the founder of stitching Hearts worldwide. And she shared so many great stories in there, so many different ways that the projects their organization is doing are helping people really all over the world. And I especially loved how she shared. They got their start and when she really realized what the focus of her nonprofit was, when they started serving with that why serve group on a college campus. And then that expanded to other college campuses and the opportunity she had to see how she was bringing these students together and how excited so many of them were to come and be part of this cause and just have something to work on. And she realized that that was the purpose of her nonprofit. That's the role that she needed to fill, was to bring people together, give them the opportunity to serve. And I just love that. I think that's a great role that she's fulfilling because I think there are so many times many of us want a project to do with a group of people in our organization or want ways that we can serve. We always don't know how to go about that or how to reach the different organizations that need the services we're willing to give. And so I love that she's closing that gap and then just the joy that comes from creating and making something together and then being able to see, as she said, you see a picture, you see that in the hands of another person and the joy that it brings them in their life. So great organization. I'm going to leave a link to stitching Hearts worldwide website because on there they have a whole list of projects that you can get involved in, and they give a lot of different ideas if you want to support their organization. And if you don't live near stitching hearts there in Utah county, you can still see some of those ideas and the organizations they work with and get ideas for things to do in your community or different projects that you can maybe be a part of. So it's a great place to check out. I will leave a link to that. And I just, I really love this interview with Christy and her genuineness in every good thing that she does. So thank you so much for being here. I'll see you next time.