SpringfieldNewsSun.com

Springfield, Ohio — Last week a few teenage girls in Clark County Juvenile Detention Hall patched things up with the community — literally.

Five area organizations were presented with quilts last week, stitched by girls who learned to sew in just two days.

The girls were taught quilt-making in order to build a sense of giving back to the community, said Beth Dixon, Outreach and Education Program coordinator.

"Sewing is such a social thing," she said. "It's a self-soothing thing and a healthy thing."

The girls began by listening to presentations by members of Project Woman, the Department of Job and Family Services, Help Me Grow, Rocking Horse and the Parent Infant Center.

Then the girls chose which organization she would sew for, and were introduced to the sewing machines, said Dixon.

The finished quilts were presented to the groups Friday, May 2.

"I thought it was going to be hard at first," said Samantha, 16, who sewed for Rocking Horse.

The project's benefit was that the girls learned a skill that can serve them well in the future, said Robert Davidson, assistant director of detention, Juvenile Detention Hall.

"A lot of kids get in trouble because they have no skills and no way to express themselves," he said.

Such projects might allow the public to view them in a better light, Samantha said.

"People think just because we're in orange jumpsuits, we're bad," she said.

For 17-year-old Chryste, sewing her quilt last week had a personal benefit.

"I didn't feel like I was in orange, I was with a bunch of friends, sewing," she said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0360 or vlough@coxohio.com.

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