I will soon be 61. I don’t feel 61! And if the work in front of us is any indication, retirement is a very long way away! One of the best parts of the past thirty-three years of work and ministry is YOU! From the first assignment we took overseas all the way to now with Threads by Nomad and The Off Ramp, we have been asked, “How can I help?”
Sometimes the help has been personal, like the friend who taped and sent us Dallas Cowboy football games while we lived overseas! Sometimes the help has been much needed encouragement. Sometimes the help has been very tangible like helping us purchase a keyboard or put together refugee baskets.
When we began Threads by Nomad three years ago, you rallied around us and helped us successfully complete a Kickstarter campaign. When a fall and subsequent surgeries kept me out of the studio for a long while, you helped me through the recovery process so I could get back sooner. When Harvey hit? I will never forget the group of women who looked at me and said “How can we help?” They helped pull us through and survive!
And now? We have an amazing new opportunity to make a difference for those who are displaced or in danger of displacement with The Off Ramp. Baptist News Global wrote an article about our new venture. If you don’t know the story, we invite you to read about it here. We also have a video that captures our brand and story. The Off Ramp is a very natural next step for our desire to see those displaced or in danger of displacement experience opportunities to thrive not just survive.
I just completed a week in North Carolina representing our work, Threads by Nomad and The Off Ramp. Again I am asked, “How can we help?” Here are some very concrete things you can do….
If you are in the Houston area:
A 2nd Cup is collecting jean jackets until April 10th. Threads by Nomad will be able to upcycle those jackets and sell them. This goes directly towards sustaining our social entrepreneurship so that we can employ refugees at fair wages. While you are at A 2nd Cup, enjoy some excellent coffee or tea and a pastry. When you do you will be supporting efforts to address human trafficking and provide help to victims. Helping two displaced people groups at once! You can’t beat that.
Our friends at Pro-Optix Eye Care have encouraged and supported us from the beginning. They are now collecting glasses frames for The Off Ramp to be used to help fit refugees with new glasses. Just drop your used frames any time at 5885 San Felipe Suite 550 Houston, Texas. Find more information here.
Be watching this page. As we develop projects we will be posting them on this page.
If you are not in the Houston area, you can send us your jackets or your frames.
We can always use fabric in the studio. We often do “mock-ups” of our designs to test our patterns before actually cutting fabric and sewing the new designs. Do you have un-used fabrics in a closet that you are trying to get cleaned out? Send it our way!
Sign up for our updates. At the bottom of the home page of www.theofframp.org simply send us your email and we will include you in the news about what is happening.
You can give. On our home page of www.theofframp.org simply click "donate." How might your donation be used? We are working with a human trafficking organization to put on a conference on the border in May for example. Another example: we will be working with a refugee sewing group in Virginia to help develop marketable products. The Off Ramp has the privilege and flexibility of helping displaced people no matter where they may be.
You can also send a card to the refugees who work for Threads by Nomad. Several of them have been feeling down lately; they feel unwelcome and unwanted. We are asking that are supporters send our team members cards expressing appreciation and encouraging them in their craft. If you would like information on where to send a card and to whom you should address it, send us an email at support@threadsbynomad.com.
If you live in the D.C. area:
We are hosting a weekend-long collaborative event called "Connect & Create: We Are Women-Owned" on April 6 and 7. You'll not only have the opportunity to support Threads by Nomad, but you'll also get to meet other creative women entrepreneurs and support them, too!
You are a part of this beautiful tapestry of diversity and community. Without you the past thirty-three years would not have been nearly as fruitful or as much fun. I am about to turn 61. I can’t wait to see what the next few years have in store for me, for Threads by Nomad and for The Off Ramp. Thank you for being a part of our story.
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