Sewing Skills Labs for Remote Northern Schools

Sew & Sew Skills Labs in Remote Northern Communities

This September I Love First Peoples and The Art for Aid Project are launching the Sew & Sew Skills Lab in 4 northern schools. We will soon ship 60 high quality brand new sewing machines, generously donated by Jenome Canada and funded in part by the people who donated funds to purchase several machines last year! 

The machines are of excellent quality, backed by Jenome's powerful name. These sewing machines will ensure that students can access their skills labs for years to come. The donated machines are even strong enough to sew and repair canvas tents - a much needed resource in the remote north! In the end, we will be installing machines into the Mushuau Innu Natuashish School Natuashish in Newfoundland and Labrador, Jens Haven Memorial School in Nain, Labrador, and Nasivvik High School in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, with a 4th school to be determined. Jenome Canada has committed to supporting the Sew & Sew Skills Lab for the next 3 years with a donation of 60 machines per year! The program is geared towards elementary students, but it can easily benefit the community through the school as well.

Ruth Dukas, a Canadian International Fashion Designer, is the program Ambassador and we couldn't be more thrilled at having such a power-house name supporting our efforts.
 
Transportation: It goes without saying that shipping will be a significant factor in getting the machines and supplies to the schools, and ILFP and AFAP will be exhausting all avenues of support for this. We will continue to run the fundraising platform through spring in anticipation of significant expenses to ship and install this program. We plan to visit the schools once the program is set up in September.
 
The first Sew & Sew project: As part of the program, we will be inviting students to make a quilt that will be gifted to a local Elder. We will partner with Janome Canada and Indigenous cultural learning specialists on the development of this initiative, to be revealed in June 2021.

The sewing machines will be shipped in May and June, in time for the start of the 2021/2022 school year. We are facing a significant wall of expense to ship such a large program and are currently fundraising through I Love First Peoples donation portal. (www.ilfp.ca)

For more information on the program and for regular updates, visit our website at: https://www.artforaid.ca/sewing-machine-drive