Our First Children’s Hospital Safety Pin Fly Tying Event

November 10, 2022

We were finally able to break away from the effects of Covid, and get back to doing
more of the community service events that we love. I have been working with Melody
DeWeese, the child life coordinator at St Louis Children’s Hospital, and the efforts finally paid off.
Starting on November 10th we will be entertaining the patients by creating some safety
pin flies for them to wear on their shirts or tops.

With the approval of the hospital four FATC volunteers, Kenny Klimes, Bill Byington,
Mike Oldani, and Steve Baker met up with Melody DeWeese at the Children’s Hospital on
Kingshighway. She escorted us to the patient activity room on the eighth floor where
we were able to set up for tying colorful feathers on safety pins. The patients were
really excited to pick out the colors they wanted and were able to watch as the safety pins
came to life with marabou, hen hackle and crystal flash. We met a variety of
personalities, from a young lady that felt it was cruel to take the feathers from a chicken
even though we paid for them, to a 5th grader that proved he was more knowledgeable
than all of us there. I’ll take him on my trivia team anytime. All of the patients and their
parents were fun to talk with.

I’m sure all the volunteers enjoyed this event as much as I did and we look forward to
continuing the safety pin fly tying events plus other events that we will be getting into
after the first of the year and next spring. If you are interested in being a community
service volunteer, watch the Team-up calendar and respond quickly. We are only
allowed to have a few volunteers at a time in the hospital.

Steve Baker, Community Service Lead