Red Shield Appeal collection sparks a ‘crafty’ Cooma connection
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
BY LAUREN MARTIN
In 2025, Auxiliary-Lieutenant Debbie Bartlett sat in front of a shopping centre, collecting for the Red Shield Appeal. She was in the middle of a season of deep grief, having lost her sister just before an appointment change and a move to Cooma, a small town in the NSW Snowy Mountains region.
She had met people, but she really knew no one at all.
The Cooma Corps was in transition when she and her husband, Auxiliary-Lieutenant Bryan Bartlett, arrived, and they oversaw the completion of a building project and the re-establishment of the ministry.
“I thought that the best way to make friends would be through my craft,” Debbie said. “I started going to a few [groups], but months down the track I had acquaintances, but I still didn’t have a friend.”
That was the situation she found herself in on that Red Shield Appeal day, when a woman walked out of the shopping centre and made eye contact. “I noticed her bag and commented on it,” said Debbie. “I had made a similar one for my sister for her last birthday. She asked me, ‘What’s your sewing story?’”
The two hit it off, and soon another woman joined them after they noticed her homemade pants and asked whether she had made them herself. That day, at the Red Shield Appeal collection table, the three decided to start a new craft group.
“God had been working at me,” said Debbie, “telling me, ‘You need to do something.’ I was very cautious of using my craft, which was my outlet of recharging, as a ministry, because I didn’t want to lose the passion or the enjoyment out of it.”
But that day, Debbie stepped out in faith. The craft group – ‘Sew Together’ – has run every Thursday since.
It started off slowly, but this year it really took off, with women involved inviting other women, and even people who wouldn’t describe themselves as ‘crafty’ coming along.
“I say, ‘It’s not about the craft, it’s about the connection. If you want to make friends, come along – it’s a safe place for everybody.’ I often just take my craft, but I don’t do it. It’s a time to have connection and time to do life together.”
‘Sew Together’ regular Debby McGrath says she first heard about the group while attending Canberra City Salvos with a friend. She had brought some homemade cards, and someone there mentioned the craft group. She was given Debbie’s number, and the two women connected. “I said to her, ‘I think we’re kindred spirits,’ remembers Debby, who adds that Debbie Bartlett agreed!”
“I love watching all these women that come together,” she says of the group. “There’s young mums, there’s older ladies that just enjoy the company, there’s Debbie who is so willing and able to help with anything, and I feel like I’ve been able to contribute as well. I help with morning tea, because my passion is food and hospitality.”
She says she has come from a church background where evangelism was seen as a gift given to certain people, but she can see, through being part of ‘Sew Together’, that speaking about Jesus with others happens naturally.
“Every week, you get together, and you journey with these women, and you hear their stories, and you can speak into that because God is flowing through you,” she says. “It’s very organic.”
Debbie Bartlett says one of the biggest joys of ‘Sew Together’ has been seeing how God is building healthy community through it. A new woman started coming after recently moving to town. Debbie later found out that others in the group had taken her out to lunch and arranged to meet on another day to show her around town. Another time, when Debbie couldn’t make the group, a fellow member arranged to open the centre and run it so that fellowship could continue. It has become a vital social connection for many members.
“God is at work,” said Debbie, who has also made cherished friendships through “Sew Together”.
God often brings blessings at just the right time and in just the right places. Red Shield Appeal collecting will always feel somewhat special to Debbie Bartlett now, as she remembers what it birthed when she really needed it.
