Submitted by Jennie Dietrich
Most of you know me through my parents, Grumpy and Granny Pat. As parents, they made a significant impression on my life, and St. George was a big part of that starting around 1972. In my late teens, my mom and I rarely saw eye to eye. In the mid-1990’s, we found a common love of card making using rubber stamps and the images provided by a company called Stampin’Up!. Believe it or not, this hobby brought us back together and allowed us to start seeing eye to eye again. We found common ground again. Granny Pat often thanked my friend who introduced us to the craft for making our relationship whole again.
Granny Pat then turned this mutual love we had into a gift of giving back to St. George and all its members. She would tell the story something like this. Every year she and Grumpy would get these pre-fab cards with little to no flair in them from the church wishing them a Happy Birthday. Given the beautiful cards we made together for birthdays of our friends and other holidays, the pre-fab cards really did simply end up in the trash. Somewhere along the line, she volunteered to make birthday cards for the church, how hard could that be, right? Then she “voluntold” me that I would be helping her. That first meeting we made a grand total of 10 cards, most of those who joined us made just one. We were so proud. We talked, we laughed, we cared, all together, at once, in the hope that we would bring joy to the lives of others.
The Card Ministry at St. George has grown; everyone gets a card. That can be more than 50 people a month between birthdays and anniversary cards, which are signed and sent out. The ladies who come out and help me make these cards are not expert craftsman or specialists in paper crafting, but just ladies (and occasionally a man here and there) who want to bring joy into the lives of others. All are welcome, and we all hear back from members of the church about how special the handmade card they received was to them. We hear about how we have brightened someone’s special day.
Granny Pat passed away a year ago this October. In the last year, not a single month has been missed, and the ministry continues to grow. The ladies still gather, we still talk, giggle and sometimes complain about the world. But sitting in the St. Mark’s room, making cards, you can hear Granny Pat in your ear telling you to add more layers, every card needs more layers. Please come join us, no experience or talent of any kind required; everything including love is provided.