海角大神

Episode transcript

[Music]

Margaret Jankowski: I think the most important thing is just to listen and listen to what your community needs, and to know that you don鈥檛 have to start some giant organization. Go out and help somebody that needs some help. I mean, man, we all need a lot of help right now. So help somebody that needs help. And if you find that you鈥檙e onto something, you know, help some more people.

Dave Scott: That鈥檚 Margaret Jankowski, founder of The Sewing Machine Project in Madison, Wisconsin. She鈥檚 given out more than 3,300 secondhand sewing machines. But her project is really about teaching empathy, generosity, and how to repair lives. And as you listen to excerpts from our conversation, you鈥檒l see that Margaret seldom has all the answers, but she has learned to trust that a good idea has power and is often supported and shaped in ways she could never have imagined.

Welcome to 鈥淧eople Making a Difference,鈥� a podcast about people who are, step-by-step, making a better world.

I鈥檓 Dave Scott.

Welcome, Margaret. 

Margaret Jankowski: Thank you!

Dave Scott: Let鈥檚 begin at the beginning. It鈥檚 2004, the day after Christmas, a huge tsunami devastates coastal communities in 14 countries across Asia. It鈥檚 one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history in the days and weeks afterwards, many of us look for ways to help. Tell us, Margaret, what you did.

Margaret Jankowski: Well, I think like most of the world I was watching the news and reading the paper and just so stunned and I felt so small - like what could I possibly do that could make any kind of a difference?. I was here at home, a couple teenage kids and a husband in the next room. And I was sitting here reading sewing websites on a Saturday morning and just kind of scrolling through the internet.

I came across this article about a woman who had lost her sewing machine in that storm. It was not a long article. It was written by a BBC reporter who was traveling with these women back to their village. And [he was] interviewing them about what do you hope to find in the remains of whatever鈥檚 left where you used to be?

One woman replied: 鈥淛ust my sewing machine.鈥� She went on to talk about how she had used that machine to support her family. She planned to teach her daughter to sew when she became a little bit older. That tool had begun lifting their family out of poverty and she was hoping to find it.

And I just stopped in my tracks. So I have to admit my initial response was, 鈥淥h, I don鈥檛 know what I鈥檇 do without my sewing machine.鈥� But then the more I thought about it, I would survive without my sewing machine. And for this woman that was not necessarily true.

Dave Scott: Margaret was working at a sewing machine shop in Madison at the time, teaching sewing, selling machines, and taking customers through the features on new machines.

Margaret Jankowski: Quite often I would hear: 鈥淚 wonder what I鈥檒l do with my old sewing machine.鈥� And I was just thinking this is crazy, the imbalance. In fact, I remember sitting here holding up my two hands and thinking that this is so out of balance: Here are people that just don鈥檛 don鈥檛 even know what they鈥檙e going to do with this old thing, and then there are people to whom it would make a world of difference.

Dave Scott: Margaret decided to try and do something about this imbalance between haves and have nots. She went to her boss but he wasn鈥檛 interested in her scheme. He and many others also kept pointing out the obstacles. How would you pay for shipping? Where would you actually send the secondhand sewing machines? And she didn鈥檛 have a lot of the answers.

Margaret Jankowski: I will tell you, I had never done anything like this before in my life. This was not like, 鈥淥h yeah, I know what to do.鈥� I didn鈥檛 know what to do. But I just kind of would hold the question and there would be an answer. For instance, another friend called and said, 鈥淲here are you going to send those sewing machines?鈥� And I said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know.鈥� She said, 鈥淚 work with a guy who鈥檚 in the American Hindu Association chapter here in town, and they鈥檙e sending relief supplies over. Why don鈥檛 you talk to him?鈥�

So I talked to him and they were working with orphanages and sending a bunch of relief supplies. I said, 鈥淲hat about sewing machines?鈥� He said, 鈥淥h man, they could certainly use those to sew for the kids, to teach people how to sew. Yeah, we can send sewing machines.鈥�

So I had my answer, but not from anywhere that I ever would have guessed.

Dave Scott: At one point, Margaret went to a local TV station and held up a sketch of a big wave, a tsunami, on an 8.5 by 11 piece of paper and asked for people to donate their old sewing machines.

Margaret Jankowski: I had set a collection date for a Saturday morning, and I remember kind of bustling around at the front of the store setting up tables and thinking, 鈥淲ell, if people show up (this was before the store had opened in the morning) [I was] thinking that I want to be ready for this.鈥�

I remember raising my eyes and looking out the front window and there were people lined up down the sidewalk. This was still winter in Wisconsin, so people are out there in the cold and just cradling sewing machines and bags of stuff. One by one, people kept bringing machines and bringing fabric, these beautiful pieces of fabric.

It was just one after another all morning long for three hours straight, people just showed up. When we closed and locked the door, I remember sitting there just looking at this sea of sewing machines and bags, and I felt overwhelmed, but in the best possible way, not like, 鈥淥h, what am I going to do?鈥� But look at how this resonates with people.

Dave Scott: Over the next few months, Margaret raised the money to ship the sewing machines by reaching out to the local Kiwanis Club and Rotary Club and Girl Scouts and the school district. She ended up sending five shipments of sewing machines to orphanages in India. And she really thought that would be the end of the project, but then hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans in August of 2005.

Margaret Jankowski: Surprisingly, I had actually been in New Orleans two weeks before Katrina hit. I was down there for a sewing machine conference. I remember watching the news right after the storm hit and seeing these familiar streets where I鈥檇 just been walking and seeing the city in darkness and water. I mean, it was terrifying. Again, just like after the tsunami, what could I possibly do?

Dave Scott: So she redirected her efforts, asked her donors if they鈥檇 be OK if the remaining sewing machines and money could be used to help folks in New Orleans.

Margaret Jankowski: We rented a van and my 14-year-old daughter and I drove to New Orleans and again I thought, 鈥淲hat am I going to do? Am I going to lean out the window with a megaphone when I鈥檓 in New Orleans?鈥� I really didn鈥檛 have much of a plan. And again, a friend calls and says, 鈥淒o you need a contact in New Orleans?鈥�

I said, 鈥淚 do.鈥� She said, 鈥淢y brother-in-law is the rector at the Episcopal church on Canal Street.鈥� He said, 鈥淚鈥檒l put it out there and let people know when you鈥檙e coming.鈥� So I remember the church had dried out, but it was empty. I remember setting up tables there and lining up all these machines and standing there with my daughter, thinking 鈥淚 hope people come and take these. I hope I don鈥檛 just have to put them back  in the van and drive home.鈥� But little by little people came. I remember one woman saying, 鈥淲e keep thinking that people have forgotten about us down here and then somebody like you comes along and we know we鈥檙e not forgotten.鈥� And I thought, 鈥淵es, this is exactly what I鈥檓 supposed to be doing now.鈥�

Dave Scott: Margaret began making regular trips to New Orleans, collecting contact information when she didn鈥檛 have enough machines. It was there that she hit upon the 鈥減ay it forward鈥� concept, which then became a cornerstone of The Sewing Machine Project 鈥� something that would amplify her work and empower others.

Margaret Jankowski: People would say all the time, 鈥渉ow can I repay you for this? This is such a gift.鈥� So I started saying, 鈥淲ell, think of a way that you can pay it forward. Think of a way that you can use this machine to help someone else.鈥� And it just totally clicked with people. I would say, 鈥淲hat do you think you鈥檒l do?鈥� Oh, I鈥檓 going to teach somebody else to sew, or I鈥檓 going to share my machine in the neighborhood, or I鈥檓 going to make little hats and take them over to the hospital for the NICU unit.鈥� People had so many ideas. It was such a powerful thing and I feel like it gives us such a ripple effect.

I just feel that鈥檚 really important. Plus, after Katrina, so many people just felt like there was nothing they could do. They felt so powerless. I really feel that it鈥檚 an important message to say, 鈥淵ou do have the power to make a difference in your community. You do. So what are you going to do?鈥�

Dave Scott: Your mission statement: 鈥淲e passionately believe in the possibility a sewing machine embodies鈥� is a statement that conveys a sense of hope.鈥� Where did that come from?

Margaret Jankowski: It took years for that vision statement to emerge.  I鈥檝e seen this tool lift people out of poverty, and I鈥檝e seen this tool lift people out of depression. I鈥檝e seen people become more confident when they鈥檙e sewing and I鈥檝e seen people learn to connect with one another and problem solve together when they sewed together. And so I, with all my heart, believe that a sewing machine embodies all this possibility. With this piece of equipment, you can open so many doors. I believe it鈥檚 a vehicle for that. 

Dave Scott: I asked Margaret to share an example or two of how this tool has given hope and lifted people out of poverty.

Margaret Jankowski: We sent machines with a medical mission group over to Tanzania. There鈥檚 a woman, Mama Patrick, she knew how to sew a little bit, but she took a sewing course with these machines we鈥檇 sent. Then, she was given a machine and she took it back to her village. 

Mama Patrick is married. She has three kids. Her husband was supporting the family and they didn鈥檛 have a lot of money and they often didn鈥檛 have food 鈥� for a day or two. They had to pay for their kids to go to school. They had to choose which child would get to go to school. 

So Mama Patrick brought this machine back and started teaching sewing, and also developed her own line of clothing and started selling [clothes] in her village. She started her own little alterations business and started using this tool. With that extra income, they now can send all three kids to school. They have food in the fridge. They are able to more than get by. And I believe that that is a whole set of lives mended.

Dave Scott: Mending lives. That鈥檚 a powerful way of thinking about your work.

Margaret Jankowski: We gave a set of machines to a group called Project Respect, which is here in Madison. Project Respect is an organization that helps people who are survivors of sex trafficking, and helps them with counseling or resources, whatever they need to find their way in the world. They were offering therapy and the woman that is the therapist, thought, 鈥淥h, maybe I鈥檒l offer sewing too,鈥� because they were having a hard time getting people to come to therapy.

I know from my own experience that when I sit down to sew, it frees up my mind to talk about things or problem solve. And she found that too. All of a sudden, people were starting to open up when their hands were busy, working with fabric. She was able to get through to her clients, much more. 

Furthermore, another piece of it that I just had never realized before, she said that people in that situation, her clients, had lost the ability to plan forward. They were living in such a fight-or-flight mode that they had trouble planning beyond the very next step. With a sewing project, you have to look at this picture of a finished thing, and you say, 鈥淚 want to make that.鈥� Then you say, 鈥淥K, what do I have to do to get there? What are the steps?鈥� And she said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 reteaching how to get from Point A to Point B.鈥� And it鈥檚 been really impactful.

Dave Scott: I鈥檝e never considered that the act of sewing could help teach people how to think and plan more effectively. So Margaret, you鈥檝e been doing this for 16 years now and touched many lives. How has this project transformed you?

Margaret Jankowski: It has changed the way that I see the world. I would say most significantly it鈥檚 changed the way that I approach any sort of challenge. Prior to doing this work, I wasn鈥檛 really part of any faith community. Although The Sewing Machine Project isn鈥檛 a faith-based community, it has informed my faith.

It鈥檚 taught me that my imagination is limited by what I know, what I鈥檝e experienced. But the imagination of the universe is boundless. So it鈥檚 changed the way that I wish for things, ask for things, or you could say, [the way] I pray for things. Instead of saying, 鈥淚 wish I had whatever. I think, no, I don鈥檛 know how this needs to end. I don鈥檛 know how this needs to be answered. 

I sit back and say, 鈥淗elp me see what I need to do now. My line that I use all the time is: Shine, a big, old light on what I鈥檓 supposed to do now. More often than not, I get the answers I need and they鈥檙e almost always beyond anything I would have dreamed.

That鈥檚 a huge game changer for me. It has changed the way I walk in the world.

Dave Scott: Can you share an example of that big, old light showing you the way?

Margaret Jankowski: Absolutely. My imagination is limited, but the universe has all sorts of ideas. So I mentioned that in my trips to New Orleans, we had this giant list of people that needed machines. I called one woman named Anna and I said, 鈥淒o you still need machines?鈥� And she said, 鈥淥h man, do I ever. My fianc茅 and I are going to open this community center. We are renovating this old house that鈥檚 really beat up. We have this vision of creating a kind of a community gathering place.鈥� She said, 鈥淲e would love a machine.鈥�

She said, 鈥淲e鈥檇 love to offer sewing classes.鈥� And then she kind of paused and she said, 鈥淒o you think we could have three machines?鈥� And I said, 鈥淥h yeah, sure. We can, we can figure that out.鈥� We finished up our conversation and then she called me back, and she said, 鈥淒o you think we could have five machines?鈥�

I went back to the back room where I kept all the machines at the store and I looked through the machines that we had waiting to go to New Orleans. I was trying to kind of identify five that would be good to use together in a classroom, [five] that had enough similarities that they wouldn鈥檛 drive a teacher crazy.

In that batch of machines, they couldn鈥檛 have been more different. And so I was feeling a little defeated and it was one of those moments where I [thought] shine a big old light on this because I鈥檓 not seeing it. 

I had to leave the store for a few hours and when I returned, right inside the front door were five sewing machines and they were exactly alike. I thought that鈥檚 weird. Nobody leaves them there [at the front door] for service. So I checked with one of my coworkers and she said, 鈥淥h, it鈥檚 too bad you missed this lady. She is a retired sewing teacher and she just dismantled her classroom. These are all classroom-grade machines and she鈥檚 had them all serviced. They were all threaded with brightly colored thread and they were exactly alike.鈥� And I took them to New Orleans.

Dave Scott: With results like that. I can see why you said this project has changed the way I walk in the world. Would you tell us about some of the other lessons you鈥檝e learned over the past 16 years? What would you pass along to somebody who鈥檚 doing work as a social entrepreneur?

Margaret Jankowski: I would say, No. 1, don鈥檛 decide that you know best what other people need.

If you feel like you have a good idea and you鈥檙e onto something, talk to the people that you intend to serve and find out what they really want or really need and let them shape the idea. The second thing would be, don鈥檛 decide what something鈥檚 going to look like when it鈥檚 done; allow it to grow in a way that鈥檚 natural.

Be OK talking about and defining 鈥� whether you鈥檙e talking with a board or your work group or whatever 鈥� what you are and what you aren鈥檛. Sculpt boundaries. It doesn鈥檛 mean that those boundaries are carved in stone and you can鈥檛 ever waiver. Of course, your idea will evolve, but it helps so much to say this project falls within our boundaries at this time, or it does not. 

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And finally, if things don鈥檛 work 鈥� and inevitably they鈥檙e just not going to work 鈥� remember that you started by wanting to do something. And that this little spark of goodness is something that the universe really, really needs. So keep going.

Dave Scott: I hear a lot of openness to listening and continuous learning in Margaret鈥檚 approach to mending lives. And of course, [she has learned to] trust that a good idea comes with its inherent power and momentum. It doesn鈥檛 require that you know all the answers.

I鈥檝e been talking to Margaret Jankowski, founder of The Sewing Machine Project. We barely scratched the surface of what her organization does. So if you鈥檙e interested in learning more, go to her website,  

Here鈥檚 this week鈥檚 challenge: If you have a secondhand sewing machine, well, you know what to do. But if you don鈥檛, then, volunteer. Give some time to one of the social causes your company, your family or house of worship is supporting. Or, go to this website: and the site may give you some ways to help out in your city or town. Then, call me and tell me how it went. Call me at 617-450-2410 and leave me a voice message about it. That鈥檚 617-450-2410. 

Thanks for listening to People Making a Difference, a podcast about people who are, step-by-step, making a better world.

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