Fayetteville Church Weaves "Comforter"
for Monroe Harding Home
From one small thread a comforter is woven in Middle
Tennessee. The small thread came in the form of a suggestion by a former
member of Fayetteville's First Presbyterian Church, Connie Crawford,
to the Presbyterian Women of the church. Mrs. Crawford, like her mother,
Betsy Harwell, has been deeply involved with Monroe Harding Children's
Home for many years. Monroe Harding and FPC have strong connections
that go back to the 1970's and before.
It was then that one of the resident cottages,
Bagley Cottage, was given by Thomas Owen Bagley, a long-time member
of First Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, in memory of his wife
Odell W. Bagley. Since First Presbyterian Church already had this tie,
Mrs. Crawford suggested to the Presbyterian Women's group that they
adopt Bagley Cottage to provide supplies, furnishings, or whatever they
felt the group was capable of doing. The group adopted the cottage in
September of 2000 so the thread of suggestion was now beginning to be
woven. The weaving process continued when in January 2001 the church
began supplying paper products and toiletries for the cottage residents.
The next thread added to the loom was discussion
of some of the physical work that needed to be done on the cottage itself.
This sounded like a thread the youth director and youth group could
pick up, so plans were made between this First Presbyterian Church group
and Christi Goodrich, the volunteer coordinator. On Monday, July 23,
2001, 14 youth and 2 adults from FPC arrived at Monroe Harding to begin
a week's work of painting, cleaning, and yard work. The youth and adults
washed and painted all the trim in the house, scrubbed the kitchen cabinets,
stove and refrigerator, cleared hedgerows, trimmed bushes, weeded landscaped
beds, hauled off trash, harvested vegetables from the garden, and moved
furniture and other items in preparation for a silent auction. There
was also plenty of time for basketball, volleyball and soccer with the
residents.
The Presbyterian Women of FPC, the youth group,
and the entire church see this trip and the work that has been done
so far as one comforter completed from one small thread. The church
sees Monroe Harding Children's Home as an ongoing mission where they
will all work together to continue weaving that thread into more comforters
that will come in the form of curtains, a computer desk and chair, and
the continued supply of paper products and toiletries.
