PORT ANGELES — This fundraiser is hot.
The group — which has grown to six women who routinely get together to create pot holders, pet beds and aprons — started out as two friends trying to raise $500 for a charity they believed in: Peninsula Friends of Animals.
Peninsula Friends of Animals is a no-kill shelter that takes in cats and, on a smaller scale, finds foster homes and adopts out dogs as well.
Almost four years ago, Lori Miller and Carol Gearey teamed up to make pot holders, sell them for $12 a pair and make a few hundred dollars for a cause they both believe in.
“By March or so, we already had over $800,” Miller said of the effort that began in January 2007.
“After that, we went to them to see if it was something they were interested in selling more of.”
Since then, the two have been joined by Sue Cram, Lynda Larison, Pat Matland and Donna Baxter.
Cindy Wingerter, Lenell Savage and Cindy Caldicott also help out but don’t attend the monthly get-togethers.
Once a month, the group compiles kits for the pot holders.
Each kit contains a 9-inch fabric square designed top, a coordinating back side, flannel in three colors to create a colorful design on the back side and a border fabric.
The women then take the kits home to make as many pot holders as they can in the month.
The finished products are taken to holiday bazaars, craft fairs and several locations in Sequim and Port Angeles to sell.
Pot holders are available at the Lavender Festival, Paws in the Garden and Sequim’s Open Aire Market.
They also can be purchased at the Department of Labor and Industries in Port Angeles, Red Rooster Grocery in Sequim and Hair Trix in Carlsborg.
Gearey said that some people even inquire at the door of holiday bazaars if they are there.
“Evidently, if the pot holders weren’t there, they weren’t interested,” she said.
In the first three years, the group raised more than $40,000 for Peninsula Friends of Animals.
This year, the group made an additional $29,000, Miller said.
Originally, the group would hold “sew-a-thons” and stitch up the pot holders right in the shop tucked in the barn at Miller’s house.
“Now with six of us, it just gets too crowded,” Gearey said.
“So now, we make up kits and take them home.”
Recently, Gearey branched into creating bags decorated with fabric with a dog print.
Although time-intensive, she has been selling them for $25 a piece.
For more information on the Peninsula Friends of Animals, visit www.safe havenpfoa.org or phone 360-452-0414.
To donate 100 percent cotton fabric or thread to the ongoing pot holder fundraiser, phone Miller at 360-461-0348.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
