Winter Texans sew, stitch to bring warmth to those in need

HARLINGEN — When Winter Texans pull into Park Place Estates, they’re hauling goods for a group of women who sew and stitch to help the poor stay warm in the winter.

For 23 years, they’ve been making colorful comforters for the poor in the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico, said Rosemary Berry, who helped launch the project in 1988.

For years, word of their work has spread up north, she said.

So every fall, Winter Texans load their mobile homes and RVs with fabric, yarn and thread to haul them to the RV park.

“I think every vehicle that comes down here has stuff for us,” said Berry, a retired medical secretary from Churubusco, Ind. “They bring sacks and boxes of fabric. They know the need.”

Planning starts in the summer, she said.

“They’ll call me in the summertime when I’m back in Indiana and ask if I could use things,” Berry said.

At the park, the group that’s made nearly 8,000 comforters has spun off projects that knit afghans and lap robes for the Ronald McDonald House and McAllen-based CIMA Hospice, she said.

“We feel blessed with their contributions,” said Jennifer Leal, a spokeswoman for CIMA Hospice. “They help us provide more warmth and love to our patients and the community.”

On Monday and Friday mornings, the park’s activity hall looks like a little factory, Berry said.

“It’s an assembly line,” she said.

On long tables, a group of about 12 women cuts out fabric into 6- to 10-inch blocks, she said.

Then a group of about eight lays out the blocks into patterns.

Next, six women sew together the fabric before a group of eight places the fabric into 6- to 8-foot wooden frames.

Then, 10 women sew knots that tie together the layers of fabric.

On work days, the group makes about 10 comforters, Berry said.

“We work as fast as we can,” said JoAnne Schleif, a retired legal consultant for the FFA who’s lived year-round at the park for four years.

“I’m self-taught as far as sewing,” she said. “It’s for a good cause.”

This season, the group donated comforters to the Valley Morning Star’s All is Bright Christmas drive, to Loaves and Fishes and to a food pantry, Berry said.

“You need to give to those less fortunate,” she said.

Over the years, the group’s spirit of giving caught on, Berry said.

In the late 1990s, a group of women launched a project to knit afghans and lap robes at the park, said Doris Croasmun, a retired housewife from Struthers, Ohio.

So far, she and about 10 friends have knitted about 3,000 of them for the Ronald McDonald House and CIMA Hospice, she said.

“I’ve seen people when you give them something handmade, and it’s something you can’t explain,” she said. “The expression on their face makes it worth it. We feel our labor of love is done with appreciation for people who just need a touch of love.”

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Fernando Del Valle is a reporter for the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen.