Extraordinary People of the Cape Fear: Common Thread gives colorful comfort

Common Thread ministry has given away more than 13,000 butterfly pillowcases in the last 14 years, mostly to end-of-life patients.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Every couple of weeks at Pine Valley Methodist Church in Wilmington, NC, you’ll hear sounds you don’t normally associate with a house or worship: fabric ripping, scissors cutting, sewing machines whirring.

Behind the doors of an upper room, volunteers gather twice a month to design and assemble pillowcases, using a vibrant butterfly fabric.

The idea started in 2009, when the group’s organizer, Jeanne Scott, learned that AIDS/HIV patients in the Cape Fear region of North Carolina often didn’t receive gifts at the holidays, or on their birthday.

Scott told WWAY’s Donna Gregory that she gathered supplies and friends who could cut, sew, iron and fold, and started making the pillowcases to give away as a gift to the patients, and a keepsake for their families.

The idea took hold, and donations started coming in from people who were touched by the mission which eventually took the name “Common Thread.”

“And as the money increased,” Scott said, “we increased our production to go to hospice.”

Jeanne Scott soon met Jason Clamme, Director of Community Engagement for Lower Cape Fear Lifecare.

They knew the partnership idea had legs, as long as the volunteers could lend more hands.

“Lower Cape Fear Lifecare and Common Thread have had a partnership for many years,” Clamme explained.

“In hospice care, of course, we serve patients.” he added. “But one of the things that’s important to us is caring for the family, and the caregivers as well.”

Clamme said his organization hears many stories from people who share how the gift has been meaningful, and that their loved one is still part of their life because of the pillowcase.

“Obviously the butterfly has a symbolism: they started out as caterpillars and there was a dying and rebirth process,” Clamme said. “Many people like to think of their loved one as not being gone, but in a more beautiful and a special place.”

Back in the sewing room, the volunteers keep the production running smoothly, turning out about 100 pillowcases a month for Lower Cape Fear Lifecare.

The group counts the pillowcases as they are distributed, and they have given away about 13,000 since the program began.

Each pillowcase has the same Bible verse sewn into the hem: Psalm 4:8, which reads: “I will lie down and sleep in peace for you, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

Sharing the scripture has become part of the mission statement for Common Thread.

“The mission is to let people know that God loves them, no matter what, especially in their last days, and to give them comfort in their bed.”

One of the volunteers, Nancy Coppedge, is also a pillowcase recipient.

Her father lived to be 94 and was in assisted living toward the end of his life.

Coppedge hand-made a special pillowcase for him and slipped it onto his pillow a short time before his death.

“He knew I had made it,” Coppedge explained.

“I told him, ‘Daddy, I brought a pillowcase for you,’ and I guess he was thinking: ‘You know, I guess we’re at that point of my life– he knew that he didn’t have long’.”

Coppedge says, just knowing the pillowcase was under their father’s head was a big comfort for her brother and her.

“To go through the process of him, at the end of life, and being able to give him a pillowcase, is something that’s so dear to my heart,” Coppedge shared.

“For other people, it means everything,” she added, knowingly.

Lower Cape Fear Lifecare can corroborate that.

“We hear stories quite often of putting [the pillowcases] in frames and cases,” Jason Clamme confirmed.

“I’ve heard people talk about how they can still smell their loved one on the pillowcase, as a reminder,” Clamme offered.

The mission is going strong, even as the volunteers are aging, and moving a bit more slowly at times.

“Luckily we’re still very vital,” Jeanne Scott laughed, “and luckily we have an elevator to get up to the second floor. Some of us can’t make it up the stairs!”, she laughed.

The group always accepts new volunteers, and they are trying to attract younger people, regardless of their sewing prowess.

“I would say 50% of our ladies don’t sew,” Scott revealed. “But they can do the ripping or the ironing and the cutting, so they want to do it, no matter what.”

If you’d like to be a part of the ripping, folding, ironing or even sewing, you can learn more about Common Thread here .

The group also accepts monetary donations, and information about how to contribute and volunteer can be found here .

Scott says the entire project is about spreading joy to patients and their families during a challenging time in their lives.

“When people walk into a hospice room, it’s not stark white sheets and pillowcases,” she explained. “They see color and butterflies, and just a lift of hope.”

They also see a community of open-hearted volunteers, held together by a common thread that binds helping hands, to grateful hearts.