Fabric Sale Story
“Where shall we put these archival scrapbooks?” asked Ruth Tokumi, BWA Archivist. “The file cabinet is broken and we can’t get to it in the sewing area because there’s so much stored down there.”
First humble BWA member, “There’s a lot of extra stuff here that we could sell and clear a path to the file cabinet.”
Second humble BWA member, “There’s a lot of fabric in Eshinni from donations during covid that could go with the fabric in the sewing storage area.”
First humble BWA member, “But we need to clean out the sewing area to get to the archive cabinet.”
Third humble BWA member, “We can sell it during the next rummage sale. By the way, when is that?”
Silence.
Fourth humble BWA member, “Maybe we could do a mini sale, just with fabric. It would be a start.”
All humble BWA members, ”Okay, I can’t do much but I’ll help as much as I can… let’s try that.”
Work, work, work, sort, sort, sort, move, move, move, clean, clean, clean…
“Whew!” says Ruth. “That’s a job well done. And we even made room for another filing cabinet for some of the buried items that were already here! Thanks to Albert and Liane Wong, who repaired and moved in two new empty filing cabinets we have room for archiving physical items! In addition, thanks to the Wednesday sewing ladies, Jane and Michi, there’s plenty of labeled fabrics ready to be sold.” All humble BWA members, “Now the fabric sale can be set up.”
Work, work, work, sort, sort, sort, move, move, move, clean, clean, clean…
Several weeks later…
All humble BWA members, “After all the efforts of so many people the fabric sale is ready for launching! Let’s make it available to the Betsuin members and public who might be interested.”
First humble BWA member, “Who might be interested a specific fabric sale?”
Second humble BWA member, “Maybe some would like ideas that are easy to sew or require no sewing.”
Third humble BWA member, “They may want to see what other BWA members have sewn or they may want to try sewing something without spending a lot of money.
Fourth humble BWA member, “They may want to see old friends in at the temple. Or maybe they know someone who can use this fabric. So many possibilities!”
All humble BWA members, “We can share ideas during the General Membership meeting and open the sale after the meeting!”
Sale, sale, sale, talk, talk, talk, talk, share, share, share, laugh, laugh, smile, smile, smile…
“Whew!” says Ruth. “Another job well done!”
Third humble BWA member, “Let’s clean Eshinni now!”
Clean, clean, clean, sort, sort, sort, sweat, sweat, sweat, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate…
Fourth humble BWA member, “Now what shall we do with this leftover, unsold fabric?”
TaDah!…Here comes Albert and Liane with their handy dandy cleanup crew!
Next, enter Marilyn Gilbert representing a group of East Oahu sewers that have been sewing items to be donated to children in Africa and more recently Ukraine! She’s associated with Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child from her church connection. She gratefully took all the unsold fabric and distributed it among fellow participants for making items to be given to children.
“WOW,” says Ruth. “It’s true, compassion and wisdom even in cleaning up can go a long way! This started all with the intent of clearing space for preserving the BWA legacy.”
“Hooray!” say all the BWA members and friends.
Practicing the Dharma has many connections and works through causes and conditions resulting in compassion, wisdom and gratitude.
Namo Amida Butsu
PS A little bit of humble BWA work can go a long way…
Submitted by Penny Atcheson – August 2022
Characters – Ruth Tokumi, Michi Shibata, Jane Hamaji, Claire Groom, Sharon Yokoyama, Diane Marshall, Wendie Yumori, Susan Morishige, Albert Wong, Liane Wong, Jo desMartes, Murasaki, Cindy Alm, Arlene Matsubara, Dawn Nabeshima, Dianne Ida, Glenn Yokoyama, Dave Atcheson, Colleen Kunishige and a host of other BWA members and friends of BWA. (If you helped but don’t see your name, gomen. Please know we appreciate all and any support.)
Photo credits – Wendie Yumori, Sharon Yokoyama, , Dave Atcheson, Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child
