All 100 monsters are hugged by Dream Weavers and staff members before they are donated to children.
They are members of a “self-advocacy” group – these adults who make toys for children. They live in Habersham, Union, Towns, and Lumpkin counties, and they do public service projects, using recycled goods and willing volunteers. They call themselves “Dream Weavers.”
The Dream Weavers – nearly fifty of them – came together Wednesday, at Unicoi State Park in a grassy field. In the center of the field was a quilt. The quilt held the Dream Weavers’ latest project – soft, handmade, stuffed toys. And there were 100 of them. Three chapters of Dream Weavers had made all of the toys.
Each of the toys was different, made and stuffed with donated used clothing and sewn partly on machine and partly by hand. Most of them had a face, arms, and legs. They had nametags pinned on them, with a different name on each of 100 toys.
Dream Weavers affectionately call the toys “monsters” although there is nothing scary about them. In fact, their faces bring a smile. Dream Weavers made them all for children to love.
Dream Weavers are the adults many people shun, adults that many people fear. They are usually called “developmentally disabled.” They usually are served, not providing services, but those at three different centers worked at the same time to create 100 “monsters” to give away, in their “100 Monster Project.”
The project makes “monsters” available for children in the Enotah Child Advocacy and Family Center in Blairsville. Molly Cousin works in that center, which serves children in area counties. The “monster” dolls will be given to “children in shelters who come for services,” she said. “They’re wonderful,” she said of the handmade dolls.
The Children’s Center for Hope and Healing in Gainesville will also receive monster dolls. Betty Guilfoile works there. She said her facility serves children, ages 3-17, from Habersham and Hall counties, “providing counseling for children who have been sexually abused.
“Our children are going to love these monsters,” she said.
Denise Eller works with the developmentally disabled Dream Weavers in Habersham’s Demorest center, where the 100 Monster Project was begun. She said that a number of community volunteers helped with the project. The nametags on the “monsters” were attached by a group of volunteers, tenth graders from Habersham Central High School. They also brought bags of used clothing from home, for making “monsters,” she said, “and they saved their lunch money” to contribute to the “100 Monster Project.” In addition, the Women’s Sewing Circle – a group of local women from neighboring counties who gather monthly to socialize and sew – helped with the sewing for the project.
Eller said her Dream Weaver group is quite active, and has “done a lot of traveling together,” including camping trips.
“Every place they go they have a service project – usually with children,” she said.
She knows the service projects help the Dream Weavers to change in a positive way.
“They go from being excluded, to being of service, to contact with the public,” she said of the members. “The 100 Monster Project,” she said, “is a grassroots campaign for change.”
