Inmates help donate sewing creations to local women’s shelter

Showing off something they’re proud of – it’s not something the inmates get to do very often at the Women’s Honor Farm in San Luis Obispo, but Tuesday wasn’t like every other day.

More than a dozen inmates that are a part of the Women’s Honor Farm Sewing Program got to donate their creations that include quilts, beanies, and scarves to the San Luis Obispo Women’s Shelter.

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In total, more than three hundred items are getting donated to provide comfort to those at the shelter.

“Our clients use quilts in therapy and counseling sessions because they provide warmth and a sense of comfort and safety after very traumatic situations,” explains Jennifer Flachman, a volunteer at the San Luis Obispo Women’s Shelter.

Jan Raehn is an inmate at the Women’s Honor Farm and has been a major counterpart of the prison’s sewing program. She says being able to create these donations helps make fellow inmates feel good about themselves, telling us: “It goes back to somebody that needs things – so yeah it makes me feel better and I’m able to help some other girls that never sewed before and some of them have never done anything to feel good about themselves so you watch them change.”

Weaving together hope for women and children they’ll probably never meet, this sewing program allows inmates to give back from behind bars.

“It’s more than a quilt , it’s what they put in there- it’s the time and the love,” says Antonia Winters, Director of Latina Services for the San Luis Obispo Women’s Shelter.

Over the last three years the Women’s Honor Farm Sewing Program has sewn together more than three thousand items for charitable donations that include afghans, capes for children with cancer and teddy bears.

If you’d like to donate to their program, the SLO County Sheriff’s Office says to message them here for more information.