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By Frank Cardenas, STCN

Down by waters of Baffin Bay near Kaufer-Hubert Memorial Park in Riviera, resides a small community of travelers from various states and even other countries. SeaWind RV Resort is the home to the so-called “Winter Texans” who travel down to Kleberg County from colder temperatures to take in the warmer climate South Texas has to offer.

Although the residents make the trip to Riviera from afar to relax and take part in the activities the resort has to offer - from skeet shooting to fishing to line dancing and more - the residents sometimes also have other plans while residing in their winter homes.

This week, the resort held a Craft Fair, which allowed residents to share their projects with others in the community.

Among the many vendors was “Threads of Love,” a group which has its roots in making baby coffins and burial clothing for families with loved ones who died during birth, or pre-maturely.

Cheryl Colford, one of the women who volunteers with Threads of Love, said as the birth rates have slowly improved in the area, the group is now reaching out to organizations in the area to help in other ways as well.

She said the group has now been knitting, crocheting, sewing and using looms to make hats of all sizes, blankets, shawls, lap robes and scarves.

“We’ve delivered two loads of hats over the cold spell, with blankets and more to the Kingsville community,” Colford said. The 46 hats, six blankets, two scarves, and a bag of gently used clothes were distributed in Kingsville following the recent winter storm.

Since December of 2020, Threads of Love has donated about 245 items to Driscoll Children’s Hospital, Caring Hands Ministry of Kingsville, and other local churches, as well as the Pregnancy Resource Center of Kleberg County.

Colford said the group also seeks out grants and sells the items they don’t donate to the organizations, so they can continue to make more items.

“I have a great group of ladies here that help me out; I couldn’t do this alone, and we have fun together,” she said. “Our whole thing is about outreach to the community that we’re at.”

Threads of Love still has 14 baby caskets the group will donate this year, which have all been decorated and will include a special memory box for the families. The caskets will be sent to Christus Spohn Hospital Kleberg.

The caskets are handcrafted with a little help from another resident at SeaWind, Harvey Folse, a retired veteran who was also at the craft show displaying some of his own work.

From 2018-19, Folse, along with the SeaWind group called the Winter Wood Workers, built wooden urns for unaccompanied veterans at local veteran cemeteries.

The term “Unaccompanied” means family members of the deceased veteran could not be located at death.

Folse said federal facilities provide the boxes for burial for unaccompanied veterans, but the state cemeteries do not, which sparked his desire to begin crafting.

Being a disabled veteran, Folse understood there was a need for the urns, and he got to work to see who else was willing to help.

Since then, using the woodshop space provided by the RV resort, Folse said there are at least 30 volunteers involved in the making of the wooden boxes.

Over the first two years, the volunteers crafted and donated 20 urns to the Coastal Bend Veteran’s cemetery, which were later also distributed to other facilities.

Last year, Folse said the group was able to donate 40 urns, and they hope to increase their total this year to 50.

“We plan to donate 10 of the 50 urns to a facility in Missouri,” Folse said. “We’re trying to expand into other states, so we’re trying to get groups in Oklahoma and New Mexico, of woodworkers who want build (the urns) and donate them to their local military cemeteries, as well.”

Folse said if anybody else would like to volunteer with the group, or find ways to help, they can contact him at (407) 616-3697, or send an e-mail to Harvey_Folse@yahoo.com.