“Since its inception in 1912, thousands of Sewing Society members have helped clothe the orphans who once inhabited St. Joseph’s, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the work of the home.
In addition, they’ve held annual card parties to help raise funds; they’ve bought and dyed Easter eggs for hunts and Easter candy for the children’s baskets. They’ve bought countless Christmas gifts, not just for the children, but for the Ursuline Sisters who’ve served the Home, and its priests, too. For nine decades, the ladies of the Sewing Society have been a part of the Home’s fabric, always ready to volunteer, always there on picnic days and any other occasion where the mission of St. Joseph’s has called them to contribute.
The Sewing Society – often referred to as the Ladies Sewing Circle in records down through the years – was founded in 1912 by two members of the St. Joseph Catholic Orphan Society Board of Trustees – Joseph Hubbuch and Ben Stoesser. The idea, according to the Home’s records, was to create an organization of ladies which would help promote the activities of the orphanage and raise money for it too.
In the beginning – and for decades to follow – the ladies of the Sewing Society made just about every stitch of clothing worn by the Home’s residents. They also made sheets and pillowcases and anything else the Ursuline Sisters at the Home said was needed. To give some idea of the work involved, one book of Sewing Society records indicates, for instance, that in February of 1943, the ladies completed 53 articles of clothing (including 44 pairs of pajamas, seven dresses, and two quilts) and an undisclosed number of ‘necessary repairs.’”
– excerpt from Love’s Home: The Works and Wonders of St. Joseph Children’s Home 1849-2002.
This post was supported by funds made available by the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s Office of Health Equity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for STLT Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce, under RFA-OT21-2103.
The content of this post are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of or endorsement by the Kentucky Department for Public Health or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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