Don't Turn Your Back: What You Can Do In Your Community Helping Kids: The Story of Stoney Creek Club as told by Pat Risser

This workshop is the simple story of a local community-based “program.” This story is presented as an example of what caring individuals can do to help support children living with various forms of abuse,neglect, and trauma. The Stoney Creek Club operates with no formal financial support. These caring individuals work together to mitigate some of the damage that trauma has done to children. Hopefully, they will inspire you and help to illustrate how concerned and caring individuals can play a valuable role in addressing the crisis of trauma in our communities.

Two Young sisters Sassy and Brandy

Two Young Sisters Shavon and Breanna

Saw the dogs outside and asked if they could pet them.

I invited the girls to come over and pet the dogs and offered to pay them to walk the dogs. Eager to make a little spending money, we had a deal!

One day while Shavon and Breanna were over and putting the halters on the dogs to take them for a walk…

Trish, my wife, had taken up quilting and showed the girls some squares she had designed and made.

The girls oohed and aahed at the beautiful quilt squares and asked if they could try it sometime.

With a little help, the girls were soon making their own quilt squares

A couple weeks later, a knock at the door and Shavon and Breanna asked if Liz could join them.

A couple more weeks and…

Pretty soon, we needed some help to keep up with it all. We put out a plea for help on the internet and, luckily we found Molly!

Molly was great with all the kids

One day… One of the kids was having difficulty. Trish asked why she seemed to have trouble focusing and couldn’t sew a straight line. This child looked up at Trish and with sad eyes said, “I hope my mom gets paid today. We haven’t eaten in three days.”

We fed her. And, we started to stock fresh fruit and veggies for snacks. And, we talked it over with Molly and started cooking classes twice a month.

Our little group grew into a project. I sacrificed my future “den” and with some help, we turned it into a basement sewing center.

As the number of kids grew, our projects grew… We had a ‘girls’ day with a beauty specialist to teach make-up and hair tips.

As the number of kids grew, our projects grew… We had watercolor painting class.

As the number of kids grew, our projects grew… We had once a week guitar lessons.

As the number of kids grew, our projects grew… We had cooking class twice a month.

As the number of kids grew, our projects grew… And, of course, we still had sewing

Sewing Projects Quilts Bandana Tops Bandanas Corn Hole Bags Picture Pillows (for Mother’s Day) Baby Blankets Fleece Blankets Pillows Neck Coolers Pot Holders

Results/Outcomes Sewing requires concentration and focus. As a result of our little efforts, grades in school went up as the kids could concentrate and focus better.

Outcomes The kids all developed a sense of pride in their accomplishments. They feel a sense of safety in our home and we’re able to provide a positive role model for them. Their behaviors in school have improved. They are proud to make something to give away. They’ve made blankets for the newborns at the hospital.

Donations We are not a 501©3 non-profit. If we do that, we’d lose some of our autonomy. It might increase donations but, that’s not what we’re about.

Donations We’ve received donations of: Fabric Sewing machines School supplies Clothing Cash

Donations One girl’s mother is dying of cancer. This 12-year old girl is the primary caretaker. We received a $75 donation specifically to purchase Christmas presents for this child. Other cash donations went to buy sewing supplies and food for cooking classes.

The Pond Molly has a pond on her farm. The pond is stocked with fish. We have taken the kids fishing, on a cookout and on a hayride. We always get signed permission slips from a parent.

What’s Next? We’ve done outreach to the local mental health consumer drop-in/recovery center and are now teaching adults the same stuff we teach the kids. We’ve also been asked to take the program to the local nursing (adult mental health consumer) facility and to teach there.

It doesn’t take a village… It takes each and every single one of us, as caring individuals. Do the right thing with what’s in front of us, give a little time and effort. We can all do something.

We can’t take away the hurt, the abuse, the neglect, the trauma… But, we can give some balance with happy memories like…

Chocolate Day

For More Information On the web: Trish Molly Call: (503)