At Patchwork, we’re back from our holiday break and we’re jumping into the New Year!
Our morning staff and volunteers were here on Monday morning, serving up coffee, filling food pantry food orders, and giving everyone 2022 greetings. Some guests took showers. Some picked up hats or gloves. One called a friend to tell her to come play the piano for us, which she did. It was good to check in with everyone again.
Especially on the coldest days, a warm cup of coffee is a necessity for many of our guests. Thursday morning, we had snow and bitter cold. Local schools were open, so we were open, too. Anyone who ventured to our doors found a warm room, fresh coffee, and pimento cheese sandwiches prepared by Judy and Bill. Hopefully everyone found a moment that was peaceful and warm before they headed back out into the falling snow.
As always, we’re grateful to the Evansville Coffee Company for providing our coffee. You can find their excellent coffee at various places around town and online, but you can only find their Patchwork Blend here. Every bag of Patchwork Blend is a little different, it being “flavors spanning the world of coffee and every style of roast, a true mélange of coffees combined to create a community where all beans belong without judgment or bias.” It’s perfect!
Our Arts & Smarts program started back on Tuesday and has had a short week because afterschool activities were cancelled Thursday due to snow. Still, it was wonderful to see our participants again. Already we’ve cut paper snowflakes, we’ve begun a knitting project, and we’ve constructed things through creative play.
We’ve also provided help with homework. On the first day back, one girl finished her homework before her tutoring time was over, so she decided to prepare a story to read to her friends who were also here for the day. She chose a retelling of the story of the Ugly Duckling that was written by our friend and former tutor Patti Easley. The girl practiced the story in the tutoring room with Jane and then read it to the rest of the group after snack. It was a thoughtful and caring thing to do.
From here, we’re looking forward to more good things in 2022. We are aware, however, that covid infections have increased dramatically in our area along with everywhere else. We will continue to do our best to keep people safe while providing the programming that they need, but we know we may need to make adjustments in the coming weeks. We’ll let everyone know if and when changes happen.