Here’s another nice story about how a local business is doing great things to help the community — in this case the global community.
On the third Tuesday of every month, Vanetta Parshall and Monique Liberti, owners of the Village Quilt Shoppe, host a “charity day.” For four hours, a handful of crafters sit around the tables at the back of the shop, carefully cutting and sorting hundreds of small fabric squares. The squares are then assembled into individual quilting kits, which are packaged up and shipped to Honduras.
Their destination is an foundation called One Common Thread, whose mission is to help Honduran women make quilts, which they can then sell to support their families.
Monique explained that the lap-sized quilts are created by English Paper Piecing, a method especially designed for hand-sewing, a necessary requirement for Honduran women who often don’t have a sewing machine, let alone electricity. The Quilt Shoppe volunteers work from patterns specifying how many of each color piece are required for each quilt, cut them all, separate them by color, then sort them into individual quilt kits.
Depending on how many helpers show up, Monique said, she can assemble and ship as many as six kits every month.
Monique and Vanetta began holding their charity days about two and a half years ago, after one of their former employees brought One Common Thread to their attention. They’ve adapted their efforts along the way as they’ve learned the most efficient ways to help.
“At first we had people drop off fabric, and we would just send fabric,” Monique said. “But upon talking with them we found it was more beneficial to cut the fabric up. So then we would send them squares. Then we realized we could print the patterns out and make kits.”
She estimates that the first year they shipped more than 50 yards of fabric. Then, thousands of pre-cut squares the following year, and about 30 kits since then. And they’re not planning to slow down anytime soon.
“Being a small business owned by two women, we want to help other women have a better life,” Monique said. “We try to look for charities where we help women empower their lives.”
Vanetta and Monique welcome anyone to stop in on Charity Tuesdays to help out. You don’t need any quilting or even crafting experience, since most of the work involves sorting squares into kits. The next one is on Aug. 15, beginning at 10:30. If you’d like to help out at home, you can pop in and pick up a bag of fabric, complete with instructions, to cut into squares.
They also take donations of thread and hand-sewing needles, and monetary donations to help with shipping. (No fabric donations, thanks — they have plenty of fabric!)
The Village Quilt Shoppe is located at 21 East Main St. in the Village of Webster. To learn more, check out their website here or call (585) 626-6916. And definitely log onto the One Common Thread website to see some of the beautiful finished quilts and the women who are benefiting from them. You’ll also read about other ways you can help this wonderful organization.
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(posted 7/21/2023)
webster on the web 
What a nice story, thanks👏
I’m in sales. This is a great way for the shop to bring potential buyers into the store and get rid of scrap material. I do not enjoy being in sales but I understand all the gimmicks used.
Wow. What a callous way to characterize a truly altruistic effort to help others. If you knew these ladies even a little you would know this project is not a “gimmick,” and if anything, they’re losing money because they have to pay to ship the kits to Honduras. You should stop into the shop some day and meet Monique and Vanetta. Then you’ll better understand that they have built not just a business, but a community.