(Chelsea Update would like to thank John Daly for the information and photo in this story.)
Like many places, Chelsea Schools once held an annual “Santa’s Workshop” where elementary school students could purchase inexpensive Christmas gifts for their families.
When Chelsea Schools stopped its Santa’s Workshop program, Allison Vanderspool, Jane Pacheco, and Kelly Stoker thought they could create better quality gifts in the same $1-$5 price range. They started a small group to make and source products to sell. This eventually became the Material Girls, a group dedicated to making affordable gifts for children to give their families, seeking to make the experience meaningful and fun.
In the first year, 2010, they had 72 shoppers. Since then, Material Girls has expanded to more than 120 members who do 8-10 craft projects a month, nine months a year and run a Children’s Christmas Bazaar in December. Their 2022 Bazaars involved 96 adults, 74 youth helpers and 282 shoppers.
The Chelsea Children’s Christmas Bazaar is a low-cost shopping experience for children aged 4 through sixth grade. Teenage shopping buddies shepherd younger children through shopping rooms and help them select, pay for and wrap gifts for their families.
The gift selections are divided into women’s, men’s, pets’, girls’, boys’and $1/$2 rooms. All gifts are between $1 and $5.
The Children’s Bazaar occurs on the first Saturday of December during Chelsea’s Hometown Holiday event with a quieter bazaar for Special Needs shoppers of all ages the previous Thursday.
Material Girls create many projects from donated materials such as fabric, yarn, beads, buttons, and faux fur. The group stores thousands of items organized floor to ceiling in boxes, tubs, and containers in a 6’ x 15’ room provided by the Chelsea First United Methodist Church where the group meets. Arlene Wiltse, the group’s Resource Room director, makes sure even the smallest button is labeled, alphabetized and findable.
Material Girls’ leadership team is made up of women who have proven to be organized, driven, and dependable. The leadership team sometimes engages in brain-storming sessions to figure out what to make of the donations they receive. The team is still trying to figure out what to do with some of the hundreds of mop heads anonymously dropped off at Faith in Action who in turn passed them on to Material Girls.
Each month, a team from the general membership prepares 8-10 projects and organizes the required supplies. Members and their guests choose which project they’d like to work on. Each project has a team leader who shows everyone how to make the project from the supplies provided. The women get ideas from each other, never failing to come up with new, innovative ideas from each other to make the project better.
Different projects require different skills. Whether it is painting, gluing, beading, hand sewing or machine sewing, each person will always find something fun to do. There is always an assortment of different types of crafts at each monthly meeting and many different skill levels.
According to leadership team member Nancy Daly, “At my first meeting, I immediately knew I wanted to be involved. I found myself surrounded by friendly, creative, inspiring women. Monthly meetings are full of laughter and energy. There’s always a buzz in the room, even during Covid when we had to wear masks and keep our distance.”
In November, Material Girls have a luncheon for membership and helpers, which features a silent auction of higher value donated items such as gift baskets from local merchants, hand-painted clocks, wreaths, afghans, quilts, and jewelry.
Last year, Material Girls donated $14,000 in profits to Faith in Action, the food and clothing bank serving the Dexter-Chelsea area. According to co-founder Stoker, “We never meant to make money. Our goal had always been to break even.”
Material Girls helps Faith in Action in other ways by participating in the Feminine Hygiene Product drive and the FIA Sponsor a Family event. Material girls also participated in One World, One Family’s Day of Service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day producing 38 fleece blankets for refugees and 220 Valentine’s for seniors. They also made and donated centerpieces for the City of Chelsea Veterans Day Pancake Breakfast.
Material Girls meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month, February through October at the Chelsea First United Methodist Church from noon to 3 p.m. Women don’t have to be Methodist or from Chelsea to join.
For information about Material Girl meetings, email Chris Frayer at [email protected].
