Federal Way teen puts the giving in Thanksgiving with help from Monroe inmates
Before she even loaded her wagon from the trunk of the car in downtown Seattle Thanksgiving morning, Megan Johnson, 17, was giving away hats. Homeless people flocked to the car for
gifts of hand-crochetedhats and scarfs and homemade
blankets, bringing a grin to the face of the
slight Federal Way teen.
The gift completed a cycle of giving that included
some of society’s least-loved people, Megan said.
She herself had been rejected by schoolmates for
her appearance as a child, she said, because
she was born with a rare condition that
causes the bones of her face and body
to grow at different rates.
The homeless, too, are considered outcasts
by many, she said. So too, it happens,
are those who made the hats.
Prison inmates pitch in
At the Monroe Correctional
Center’s medium security
Twin Rivers Unit, where
about two thirds of the
inmates are there for sex
crimes, a group of men
gather weekly in a tiny room full of yarn and fabric.
Allan Guay, 47, Tuesday picked up the project he hadn’t finished during his last visit to the room, a long dark-red scarf. Soon, he was rapidly working a set of white plastic knitting needles along its top edge, and the scarf grew quickly longer. Near him is a tall stack of hats, wildly varied in color.
“I do a lot of crazy hats, different threads, different colors,” he said. As he knits, he prays, he said, that the hats go to good hands. In fact, the hats go all over, to Shriner’s Children’s hospitals, to chemotherapy patients and sometimes to the homeless.
He hasn’t met Megan, as her age prevents her from interacting with inmates, but says he is glad that the hats and scarves he has helped make will go to her.
The inmates working on the goods saw a video about Megan, her long, painful struggle with her condition, her 26 surgeries, her astonishing history of community service.
“It’s a good fit, helping her help the community,” said Guay, who served 10 years and will serve eight more for a crime he was reluctant to discuss, but which he called a “horrible mistake that hurt a family.”
It’s an odd sight, a group of men, some bearded, some tattooed or crew cut, hands busy with knitting needles or cutting bright scraps of cloth for quilt squares.
“I just couldn’t picture myself stitching and using a sewing machine,” said Lou DeVincentis, 67, who also has served 10 years with eight to go. “It’s something I saw my mom do.”
He said the other inmates sometimes rib him about it, but said he enjoys it anyway and will continue it as a hobby once released. And Brian Francis will make a career of it, once his 17-year stretch ends next year. He took upholstery in a vocation program and will sew for a living, he hopes.
The sewing program is a win/win for the community, said Guay. “It’s a real positive thing for the community and to help us give back to the community,” he said.
Meeting Megan
A few minutes later, Megan arrived at the prison, clad in a many-badged Girl Scout vest.
At once shy and friendly, she broke into a huge grin at the sight of the two enormous plastic bags full of several hundred hats and scarves, placed in a conference room.
“Oh, my goodness!” she exclaimed, pulling several out and laying them on the table in front of her, fingering the thick yarn. She’s been handing out hats for the homeless for seven years, but never as many as this. “Without the help of the residents in this place, it would be just about impossible,” she said.
Megan has spent so much time in hospitals, most particularly Shriners Hospital in Portland, that eventually she got involved with the Shriners as a way of doing community work. In fact, it was the Shriners nurses that got her interested in helping others, she said.
“The nurses, they treat you like family, they treat you with compassion,” she said. “That’s why I got inspired to help others.” And help others she has.
For one of her projects, Kids Helping Kids, she collected 3,000 videos for hospitals. And through Megan’s Mission, her mission to help the homeless, she has brought thousands of warm winter clothes and blankets to homeless people.
She also won the Presidential Award for volunteering more than 100 hours in one year at Life Care Nursing Home, and has supported FirstPlace, a school for homeless and at risk kids for three years.
She has authored two books, “Clowns Make a Difference” and “Don’t Mess With Meggie,” the proceeds of which go to Shriner’s Hospitals.
She also gives a regular monthly check to a home for drug babies and to a homeless shelter, and donates $500 a year to an agency that works with helping women escaping domestic violence.
She recently raised money to get three homeless women and their kids into their own homes. And she has donated about $4,000 to other Shriner projects.
It was through Shriners that she came to the attention of Brian Bechler, the director of activities at the prison in Monroe, himself an active Shriner. He suggested the partnership with the prison sewing program. “I thought it was a good idea,” said Megan. “Kind of a different, out-of-the-box thing.”
Color and warmth
Sorting through the two large bags of hats and scarves, she was glad to see the wide array of colors. “What the homeless love is color,” she said. “It’s like they’re shopping, they’ll say, ‘Oh, I want the blue one, I’ll take that red one.’”
Once, a homeless man who got a pair of new socks from her immediately took off his shoes, peeled off his wet socks, and slipped the dry ones on.“He said, ‘Oh, honey, you have no idea how good this feels,’” said Megan, beaming at the memory.
Seeing the joy of the people who get those gifts has special meaning for Megan. As a middle schooler, she was tormented for her unusual appearance. “I know what it’s like to be an outsider,” she said. “The homeless are really people like us. We’re all human. We all have feelings.”
And in many cases, it’s the warmth of the giving that the homeless feel as much as the warmth of the gift, she said.
“They’ll say, “Really, are these free, did you make these?’ And they can’t believe it,” she said. “They’re very grateful. Some of them will actually cry. It’s a pretty cool way to spend Thanksgiving.”
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