In the past 12 months, the volume of textile donations we process in our Textile Recovery Centre has almost tripled and demand for our service shows no sign of declining. There’s no doubt that our success has been largely due to the passion and commitment of our volunteers. But even they can’t match the future demand.
We don’t just need people to lend-a-hand to meet current demand, we also want textile recovery to move beyond our retail space. We want to propagate The Nest Haberdashery magic in the broader community so that it continues to thrive for generations to come and make a greater social impact.
Expanding Textile Recovery at The Nest
Stitch Together is The Nest Community’s new invigoration program that’s designed to stimulate broad community participation in textile recovery and educate about reclaimed resources. It aims to support and encourage students and community groups to get involved through various initiatives.
Fortunately, Community Bank Samford, part of Bendigo Bank, shared our vision, and The Nest secured a $50,000 grant from them to launch Stitch Together. We were beyond thrilled that our pioneering work tackling textile waste has been recognised in the bank’s inaugural major grant round.
In the last 14 years this amazing bank has distributed more than $2 million into the Samford, Pine Rivers and Narangba regions.That’s because when you choose Community Bank Samford, up to 100% of profits go straight back into the local community through grants, funding events, projects or programs just like ours.
Turbo Rolling Bees: A Fun and Meaningful Team-Building Experience
The first Stitch Together initiative we’ve launched is our Turbo Rolling Bees where people can come to The Nest and lend-a-hand by rolling fabric. Helping us process textile donations more quickly will mean we can increase the supply of low-cost resources that will help more people make an economical rather than just a sustainable choice to make by hand.
Our Turbo Rolling Bees are a fantastic team-building exercise that gives participants a sense of purpose and an appreciation of what it takes to make discarded resources new again. It’s also the perfect introduction to what it’s like volunteering at The Nest.
The final bonus is that by lending a hand with our resource recovery work, groups are rewarded with a whopping $500 voucher for use in The Nest Haberdashery, which you can imagine goes a long way!
Any group with an interest in our reclaimed materials or charitable mission is invited to participate – be it local organisations, community groups, design students or teachers.The idea is even perfect for corporate volunteering, because the vouchers can be paid-forward to other initiatives that they might like to support.
Turning Fabric into Resources: The Impact of Turbo Rolling Bees
Our first group to jump at the opportunity was from the Samford Valley Steiner School Parents and Friends Association. By giving their time rolling fabric they were able to source the textiles they needed for their fundraising Twilight Christmas market.
One participant even found it an emotive experience with the smell of the preloved fabric she was rolling sparking fond childhood memories of her Grandmother’s sewing room cupboard.
Through their business, Nest volunteer Julie Hillier and her husband Maurice promoted our Turbo Rolling Bees in their Ministry of Handmade newsletter. A dozen customers came along and proved to be a powerhouse group producing 13 tubs of small fabric rolls and 40 bolts of fabric by the metre.
The exercise gave Julie’s customers an insight into the volunteer work she does. Inspired, they paid-it-forward by donating the voucher and splitting it between the Ferny Grove and Kallangur Girl Guides. They also want to come back and do it again.
You might think rolling fabric sounds easy. You would be surprised just how fast our volunteers can work, so for those new to the task be warned. The Turbo Rolling Bees are intensive sessions for people with good mobility. In five hours there is a minimum of one tub of fabric per person with all training provided.
To keep the team fuelled up during the session, we encourage groups to bring nibbles and light drinks. Our wonderful neighbours at Hip Hops Brewers are also offering each participant a free drink when they’re finished.
We believe that Stitch Together will foster multigenerational involvement in textile recovery and foster an informed, connected and resilient community where people and resources are equally valued.
Our Turbo Rolling Bees are just the beginning and the Stitch Together Program will continue to be rolled out in 2025.
