Besides “how do I finish my bookmarks,” another question I often hear is “how can I get involved?” Just as there are a gazillion answers to the first question, there are a gazillion answers to the second.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you my gazillion answers here. Instead, I’m going to introduce you to some people who have found their own answers to that question. Each of these people single-handedly set a Stitching for Literacy ball in motion in his/her community. You can do what they’ve done or something else that suits you better. Really, it takes just one person to reach out.

Meet Bev from Clinton, MI.

Bev’s been on board the Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy program since it was merely a musing in The Needlework Nutshell. Last year, she mailed five bookmarks to a small shop where the owner wasn’t sure she’d be able to collect many besides the ones she and her husband stitched. “I got a lovely thank you note back from her,” Bev says.

Look what she did this year.

Bev has so far given 63 bookmarks to her local library in Clinton. Some “came from class projects, practice stitches, doodles and some just for bookmarks.”

I asked her how this came about.

“I was in looking for a few books to borrow and asked to the lady behind the desk if she had heard about the Stitching for Literacy program. She said no, but she would love to have bookmarks to share with her young readers. I told her I would let our local needlework store know that she was interested, and I got busy making book marks for the boys and girls.”

Bev is “always stitching” because she loves to do it. She figures this is another place to put the “stuff” she makes. There’s “only so much wall space,” she says. “I use a bookmark and thought it would be fun to do a few and give a little.”

What does the librarian think of Bev’s effort? “She was delighted. She said she would put a sign up about the program.” Bev even provided the Stitching for Literacy logo sign.

All by herself, Bev is supplying bookmarks to young readers in her community, supporting the library, and inviting a local shop and other stitchers to participate. This is more proof that It Takes Just One.

Kudos, Bev! I’m glad you’re here.