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Last month, our Yellowstone River facility (Billings, MT) was blessed with a special visit from Kari Jones.
Kari hand-sewed and delivered 142 custom pillowcases through her organization, SewKindness. She originally began this work for foster children after learning that many move between homes with all their belongings in a garbage bag. Her goal was simply to give them something personal that’s truly theirs.
Our Director of Marketing, Laurie, asked whether that same idea could translate to a nursing home setting. While the circumstances are different, many seniors experience their own form of transition and loss of identity when moving into full-time care. A small personal item can matter more than we often realize.
We turned the day into a simple ceremony and invited residents to choose their own pillowcase. The excitement was immediate. Some didn’t even want to hand theirs over so our laundry team could label them. You could tell that these already meant something to the residents.
Our Yellowstone River team works every day to create comfort and belonging. Kari’s time and care added a meaningful layer to that effort, and we’re grateful she chose to share her work with our residents.
I just felt like. God tapped me on the shoulder and said you could make pillowcases and give them to people like foster care kids, and there's a lot of people hurting in our community and world. And so I thought, oh, what a great idea. I'm Carrie Jones and I started a nonprofit called so Kindness. Right when I was getting started with this whole thing, I went to get my oil changed and there was a lady there because I'm thinking pillowcases. I know God told me, but you know, really like a pillowcase. So I asked this lady at my oil thing and she goes, actually, I was that woman just all alone. And it was scary and sad and she said, and if somebody would have. Men and said, hey, would you like to choose a pillowcase? It would have been helpful and, you know positive and and so boom I was like, OK, well thanks Scott, all right you gave me some, you know, you assured me that I'm on the right track. And so it started out very, very humbly. I love the color and the design and putting them together and give them to these women who truly are much better seamstresses I have got. Women sewing for me that are amazing. Laurie introduced me to the nursing homes and she said, hey, would you ever consider doing that for nursing home? And I said absolutely. Kerry was in our presenting in our meeting about what she was doing with the foster program. And while she was talking I just thought, wow, that just sounds so cool to do for our residents in the nursing homes. And so I went up to her afterwards and just said, you know. Mary, would you ever consider doing something like that for our nursing home residents? And without hesitation, she's like, I would love to do that. There's people in nursing homes who kind of are alone a lot of the time. And there's just an abundance of sadness because we live in the world we live in. There are always going to be people who could use a little spark of joy a little, you know, something to know that they're loved that. They're important, they're valuable. It felt pretty good. Because when I was in the hospital, the nurses got me a pillowcase with the bees on it and they put my name on it also. So I I feel pretty, pretty proud. Thank you. Hi, love Tesla. I love this. I do like her. I like her a lot. Today we have donated, I believe it's 11177 pillowcases. It's all because of these women who have volunteered to sell. It fills their heart to just know that they're doing something for other people, using their talent. And so there is no end. You know, we're just going to keep going. And truly, I would love it if, you know, it started spreading across the state. And everywhere there's just no end, so it's exciting.
This is awesome. Thanks Robert. It was a fun and uplifting day. There is so much goodness…thanks for sharing