Lake Charles sewing class makes quilts for local veterans

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - A senior sewing class at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in North Lake Charles is spreading holiday cheer this week by presenting over a dozen local veterans with quilts they have made.

“The good thing about this class is that you don’t need to know anything about sewing: We can teach you," Instructor Brenda Jackson said. "We serve seniors and special needs students. We have had students in the past who have been blind and we were able to teach them how to sew and they were able to teach us how to count Braille.”

This Christmas, a group taking sewing classes is giving back, but it isn’t the first time according to Jackson.

“Each year we pick someone to give a special blanket of love to," Jackson said. "Last year, it was sickle cell. This year, we thought we would honor our veterans”

So the sewing class invited a group of local veterans to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center to give them the quilts they made.

“Oh it’s an awesome feeling and when we found out that Miss Jackson wanted to do this we are all very very excited because we love our veterans," Louana Brown, who has been taking the class with her son, says the class is so much more than a hobby. “My son Jarren has Down Syndrome and I try to introduce him to as many things as I can and when I heard about the class I thought about enrolling him so that helped me to come out to the class as well. We’ve gained a lot of friendship through this class. That’s a good thing. We are learning from each other. That’s a great thing also.”

All involved in the class encourage anyone who is interested to join them, learn some new skills, gain some new friendships, help give back to the community, as Brenda Jackson says: “This is what we do here at MLK. We give back love.”

13 veterans received quilts Thursday. If you are interested in the free sewing class or want more information on other programs at the MLK Center, click here.

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