A mission to keep families together

COEUR d'ALENE - Even though Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is 3,200 miles from Coeur d'Alene, it is close to Kathy Hearn's heart.

Especially its people.

"They have nothing, but they have such wonderful spirits," said Hearn, of Coeur d'Alene. "It's amazing."

Hearn, a quilter of 15 years, spent a week in Haiti in February. She taught young women and mothers how to quilt blankets and re-purpose T-shirts into fashionable skirts to sell in their local boutiques. The women she and her colleagues spent time with are now making T-shirt skirts and baby quilts and putting their new skills to good use.

"It was really fun," she said. "It was quite an experience."

Haiti is still reeling from the magnitude 7 earthquake which struck in January 2010. Hearn explained that sometimes parents have to give up their children because finances are nonexistent - it's not that they don't want them; they just can't afford them. Many times the women will make jewelry or other crafts to help support their families.

The Apparent Project organization's mission includes "empowering the poor" in Haiti as well as maintaining family units. Hearn is involved with the Apparent Project because she wants to make a difference in these struggling families' lives.

"I'd always wanted to do a mission trip," she said. "This one just really seemed to intrigue me that I was helping people to keep their children and their families together."

By sharing their quilting knowledge, Hearn and her colleagues have helped provide an income stream for women in Haiti. This is something which has inspired Hearn, who cannot wait to go back. She said even though she was there only a week, she felt really connected to the women she met and made friends with many of them.

"When we left, we felt there was so much more to teach," she said. "The three of us didn't want to leave."

Hearn will have shirts-turned-skirts which she created at her Apparent Project booth during the 24th annual Holiday Gift and Food Faire at Coeur d'Alene High School.

"They're adorable," said Hearn's best friend, Mary Sharp of Coeur d'Alene. "They're kind of flared and they make them for babies all the way up to an extra-large."

Hearn will be selling the re-purposed T-shirts and other handmade goods and giving the proceeds to the Apparent Project. One individual she met who will benefit from the sales is Marie George, a 25-year-old Haitian mom who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Hearn explained that George's brother died in the earthquake, so George is raising his children as well as her own, despite her serious illness.

"We wanted to do something to help her with the finances," Hearn said.

The Holiday Gift and Food Faire will be in the CHS gym Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $1.

Info: www.apparentproject.org