[caption id="attachment_5896" align="alignright" width="500"] Belinda Gibson (left) and Clarice Miller have made more than 180 pillowcases for Buckner foster children in Southeast Texas.[/caption]

By Lauren Hollon Sturdy

 

Foster kids’ dreams are a little sweeter, thanks to Belinda Gibson and Clarice Miller. The friends have been using their sewing talents for more than a year to make custom pillowcases for each child who comes through Buckner Children’s Village in Beaumont.

“There’s not a child who leaves our campus without one,” said Sarah Jones, volunteer engagement coordinator for Buckner in Southeast Texas. “A lot of the kids get so excited, they won’t use them as a pillowcase. Some hang theirs on the wall. Some put them on display. The most special thing is they’re all different.”

Gibson and Miller said they are careful never to use the same fabric twice; they’ve made more than 180 pillowcases with no duplicates. The only information they receive about each child is a name and age, but lots of little coincidences have added up over their months of serving.

“One girl came from Vidor High School,” Gibson said. “Come to find out, that girl got a pillowcase with her school colors. There’s hardly a time that we send the pillowcases and don’t get a story back. One little girl, they told her, ‘You can put this on your pillow.’ But she didn’t: She could get inside the pillowcase, she was so small. That was her security blanket. There is just story after story—that’s why we’re the ones getting the blessing.”

Gibson said she’s had a chance to use the pillowcase ministry as a testimony in fabric stores, too, because employees always ask what project she’s working on when she comes to the register with a pile of different fabrics. But the pair’s focus is always on God and the children.

“Our hope was to make the children of Buckner feel God's love through this ministry,” Miller said. “We pray for each child who will receive the pillowcases. The people at Buckner are kind to send us notes thanking us for our work and telling us stories about how they were received by the children. But, if there is any glory to be given here, as (Buckner alumnus) Daddy Dave (Blakely) would say, ‘To God be the glory.’”