On Friday June 2nd, 2023, the Golden Ladies attended their fourth exhibition to celebrate the successful “Rainy Day Donation Project”, which has been in existence for nearly three years helping babies and children in need at Montefiore facilities that include maternity wards and NICU units, (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), for preemie babies.

The exhibition at “The Hutch”, 1250 Waters Place, Tower 1, in the Bronx was a bit different from the previous three exhibitions that featured only photographs. This time EVERYTHING was installed into two large glass display units in the public foyer. So that means, photos, toys, blankets, jackets & other clothing, octopi for preemie babies, hats, yarn and other tools of the trade as well as patterns, videos, and writing explaining the program were publicly presented. Up through June 20, 2023.

The Golden Ladies are part of a knitting/crochet class that is held at RAIN Inc Boston Secor every Thursday morning from 10AM – 11AM. 3540 Bivona St, Bronx NY 10475. ph: 718 671 8550. Join us!

I’d like to thank the Jodi Moise from Montefiore fine art program, and Liliam Perez – VP of government and community relations, for their time and recognition of this program and also director of RAIN inc Boston Secor Denise Abney for their support. And of course all of the Golden Ladies for their continued dedication to this program which is making a difference in their community.

ORIGIN STORY:

When the pandemic shut everything down, all our lives were changed overnight. The members of RAIN Inc. Older Adult Center at Boston Secor in Baychester, Bronx were told that their center was closed down until further notice. The center focused on priorities such as food deliveries and the medical needs of their members. No more parties, socializing, no programming. The crochet group that Ruth Marshall had been teaching since 2016 could no longer meet. Knitting and crocheting were put aside for the time being.

Over the next several months, Ruth received text messages from her students inquiring, ‘when is our class restarting?’.  And then Zoom classes began. For older adults navigating Zoom was daunting, confusing, too difficult, many of the students were not able to return to class. But slowly a small group formed, and Ruth quickly realized that the class had to adapt to this new type of classroom. She suggested the idea of a special project and asked her students to decide what they wanted to do. And so, The Golden Ladies: Rainy Day Donation Project was created. The ladies were very specific that they wanted to create beautiful items for babies in need in Bronx hospitals. Toys, blankets, dresses, hats, cardigans, booties and more starting flying off their crochet hooks. I created a password protected resource page on my website to organize the patterns and information for everyone to access. Every step of the way the Golden Ladies directed and made decisions for this special project.

This exhibition is giving a face to the matriarchs of our community who are the tireless providers of love and generosity not only to their families but to other families who they will never meet, simply because they want to do something to help.

Photo credit: Lori Adams, Ruth Marshall, Vanessa Villegas-Woods