Card Making...A Business Idea from Avon for our Ministry



Kaye Schmainda from Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Albany, MN and her daughter Shannon came to the Dominican Republic for 10 days this September.  Kaye worked months and months to facilitate the community-wide ImpactLives food-packing event in Albany last April, and she wanted to come to the DR to see the communities where the food will be going and maybe even help distribute some. 

When they arrived the food still hadn't been released, but God had other plans for them!  Kaye and Shannon taught the girls in our ministry how to make greeting cards.  

Kaye, a retired math teacher, now owns and runs a paint-your-own pottery studio in Avon.   Kaye loves doing different crafts and projects, and she regularly teaches community education classes in several different school districts.

When Michael and Brenda Grose donated a box of stamps last spring, I told Kaye about these stamps and asked her to bring them down for me when she came.  I told her that we were looking for things that the girls could do or make to sell and earn money for the ministry and for their personal living expenses. 

For Kaye, the wheels started turning, and when she and Shannon arrived she had put together an incredible ministry!  She brought more paper and stamps and ribbion and markers and glue and everything they would need to get started, and she and Shannon spent several days teaching the girls how to use the tools and make professional-looking greeting cards.

The girls are so excited and natural gifted at this!  They are already talking about how they can make invitations for weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, etc and sell birthdy, thank you, get well cards at the local supermarkets. 

These are actually notebooks. 
Kaye and Shannon gave them a few other ideas of things they could do with the stamps and materials as well.

DISCOVERING OTHER TALENTS

One afternoon, Joni brought some of the things she had made by hand and with her sewing machine.  She attended a training school in Haiti that taught her how to do all these different stiches, make clothes, table cloths, etc.  She's VERY talented!



WE'RE GETTING STARTED!

Last week on a Saturday night, we gathered in my home for our first team card-making session.  The theme for the eveninG was "Feliz Cumpleanos" (Happy Birthday).  We looked carefully at the model of one of the cards Kaye and Shannon left for us and got to work, changing the colors, using different stamps and arranging the items a little differently on the page.

We had a lot of fun.  There was so much energy in the room as we are all excited to see what we can make and how we can get this "business" going to help us earn money to cover the costs for the ministry.  Another session is scheduled this Saturday afternoon!  What will the theme be this week????  baby shower?  wedding?  sympathy?  hmmm....

Thanks Kaye, Shannon, Michael and Brenda Grose for helping us get started with this, and for ALL you are doing to equip and empower these leaders in their ministry of making disciples of Jesus Christ!

Glory to God!