Stories from our instructors
Coffee Creek Quilters offers four two-hour quilting classes every week for women incarcerated at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. For instructors, the classroom experience is so much more than teaching someone to quilt. We learn about our students’ lives and share our own life experiences. Our goal is to nurture students’ self-esteem, so that they will be more successful living in the community after release from prison.
We’ve started a new series of posts on our Facebook page where we share stories about our classroom experiences. We invite you to “like us” on our Facebook page for access to all of the stories in this ongoing series. Here’s the first one:
Stories from our instructors: #1
“I met with a former student today to give her a release kit. We enjoyed a good visit at the local coffee shop. During our conversation she told me about the refusal of some of her family members to reconcile and offer forgiveness even though she assured them that she wasn’t the same person she had been when she entered prison. To me she said “You’re the reason I’m a different person – you and a volunteer in religious services. I’m not changed because of the staff, the officers, or the State. I’m changed because of the volunteers who helped me see my better self.”
–Martha, instructor
The Coffee Creek Quilters prison quilting program was featured this month in the Australian crafting magazine 
We’re excited to announce that Portland’s Channel 12 featured the Coffee Creek Quilters prison quilting program in it’s June 4, 2017 evening news broadcast. The segment gives viewers a glimpse into our classroom and an idea of how much the program means to our students.