The Peace Center has a new neighbor in South City St. Louis named Selah Textiles. Started as a social entrepreneurial venture, Selah desires to employ young adult women who are foreign-born or under-resourced. The goal is to instill confidence by training them in the craft of screen printing.

The young women are trained in the techniques of creating custom-made tea towels, to include ironing, folding, and wrapping to prepare the product for selling at markets or to local brick and mortar businesses. The profit will be divided into three categories: ESL classes for adults, tutoring services for children, and further vocational education for the young women.

After volunteering with the Peace Center’s weekly tutoring program, 16-year-old Elise Zeigler dreamed up this venture, now known as Selah Textiles. Partnering with her church in South City, Epiphany Lutheran, Elise applied for and received a grant from The Lutheran Foundation of St Louis to start Selah. “I just want to do more, to give more opportunities, to reach out and make a difference for more people in my neighborhood,” Elise commented. That is her goal, and this budding start-up is the result.

“Uplift Your Neighbor” is the program’s motto. So far, Selah has engaged six young women in this mission of service to their neighbors. All of these young women also have connections to CFNA, either as students or volunteers at the Peace Center. So it was only fitting that Selah would host a “Mother & Daughter Bracelet Making Event” at the Peace Center. When Selah approached Pastor Stanish about this idea, he welcomed it and mentioned how important it is to include the mothers with their children, because this also enables CFNA to learn more about families, to understand how to better serve them, and to build stronger relationships.

On October 10, Selah arrived to host the event. There was a flow of women and daughters to the Peace Center to create bracelets. Selah encouraged them to make one for themselves and then give one back to Selah to sell to raise money for the Peace Center. One daughter, Shresti, smiled and joyfully offered, “You may keep all of mine and I will make as many as I can. The Peace Center has done so much for my family.” She did make many to sell, but we made sure she took some home as well.

The bracelet-making event was a delightful one and hopefully a first of many as both the young women of Selah Textiles and The Peace Center had an opportunity to encourage one another that day. We pray this story will encourage you to “Uplift Your Neighbor” today.

Want to learn more about Selah Textiles, where they got their name, or to see photos of what they are doing in STL? Do you need a simple gift to uplift a neighbor? Check out their website: www.selahtextiles.org

by Amy Zeigler

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