Sewing room helps society’s fund-raising initiative

THE Kwazulu-natal Blind and Deaf Society has established a sewing room as a means of raising funds.

The organisation, which has been battling to generate funds due to the pandemic, has looked at innovative ways to make money.

Veetha Sewkuran, president of the society, said all their fund-raising efforts had come to a standstill for the past two years.

“We’ve had to be innovative and come up with new ways to be able to sustain ourselves and our beneficiaries. That is when I came up with the idea of a sewing room. A lot of our beneficiaries are unemployed.

“It was an idea to get it started so we could employ our deaf and hard of hearing to work in the sewing room. It’s amazing as we have many seamstresses who are talented.

“We have five seamstresses who are either deaf, hard of hearing or with multiple disabilities who are sewing daily,” she said.

Sewkuran said last year they made an appeal for sewing machines and fabric which different companies generously donated.

“We then decided what to make. A lot of the fabric was for night shirts. We first started sewing masks for our clients and beneficiaries. We also sold masks which helped bring in some income.

“We then wondered how we could market the sleep shirts.

“We sold some during Mother’s Day. We have now come up with a concept called Pay it Forward.

“We are encouraging the public to buy 10 sleep shirts for R500 and donate them to any women’s shelter or any organisation supporting and uplifting women who have been exposed to gender-based violence.

“People could also donate to other organisations or children’s homes. We will be able to make up the sleep shirts as requested and as ordered,” said Sewkuran.