Labor of Love

For six days in January, Washington resident Lynn Findlay bent over her sewing machine and pulled off a miracle, souvenir tote bags for all attending the 2020 Mentor. “It was a labor of love,” she said.

Years ago, Findlay, a self-employed accountant with a passion for sewing, had created special dolls for a number of GSGC clubs.

Lynn Findlay

This time, she had to meet a tight deadline: the flight schedule of Steve Pagel, a GSGC donor and willing courier heading to meet his son in Cape Town.

She succeeded, and Pagel delivered the bags to GSGC founder Priscilla Plummer in time for the Mentor Summit.

Findlay had not travelled to Africa, but she chose fabric for the bags that she believed was reminiscent of both African designs and colors. Then she sat down in her giant “girl shop” and sewed her heart out.

“I do it because I don’t financially support the boys and girls, and this is my way of helping them,” she said. “I think it’s a worthwhile cause.”

And when the mentors received their bags, they found more than a few treasures inside – a souvenir GSGC pen, a T-shirt with the GSGC logo, a memory stick and phone charger, among others.