Our Place Morwell Craft Class featured on WIN News Gippsland
Our Place Morwell has been featured on TV screens across the region, with WIN News Gippsland reporting on the work of local parents who have been making beautiful bags for palliative care patients’ belongings.
Those attending the weekly craft sessions, run by Our Place for Morwell Central Primary School and Morwell Park Primary School for school parents, first started learning to sew the intricate bags last November. The gifting of the bags to bereaved families has formed out of a partnership formed between Our Place and Gippsland Region Palliative Care Service.
“The bags will really make a difference, providing care, respect and dignity for families of those have passed away”, Palliative Care Coordinator Nadine Soutar said.
Our Place Morwell Partnership Manager, Jen Doultree, shared that the parents making the bags really focused on personalising them, with each bag an individual design, handmade over six months.
“I think that’ll mean something special because as one of our mums said, they’ve been made with love, and that they’ve really put their heart into making these bags,” Jen said.
On being featured on WIN News, Jen said it was a great opportunity to share the work of the dedicated sewers in the class, whose skills and confidence have been developing fast.
“The craft group felt like they had contributed something positive to people who would be experiencing a very sad time,” Jen said.
“One of the parents spoke about the experience of losing her grandparent and receiving their belongings in a plastic bag, and would have loved to receive a care bag,” she said.
The Our Place Craft Group aims to provide a warm and friendly environment for the Our Place team to get to know the local families and understand their needs.
“Our parents have learnt a new skill, have formed friendships and been assisted to connect to support services for themselves or their children, while learning about the other programs on site such as soccer, netball, cooking that they or their children may benefit from,” Jen said.