SewREDIBuffalo

Sewing class is cancelled until further notice to protect our clients and volunteers. Please stay healthy and safe.

SewREDI Buffalo is a Refugee Economic Development Initiative in Buffalo, NY. We use sewing to teach economic empowerment and provide opportunities for self-sufficiency to members of Buffalo's refugee community. The people we teach gain marketable skills as well as a place to come together and share the experience of making something from start to finish. We are staffed entirely by community volunteer sewing instructors and people with business skills, and we supply all of the materials for projects so that the folks who come to sew with us do not have to take risk to make products for sale. As each refugee learns to sew, they take a test to earn their own brand new sewing machine so they can sew for their families.

SewREDI was founded in 2011 by Patricia Hutton, a Canisius College professor and the advisor of Canisius Enactus. SewREDI Buffalo's volunteers come from all over the WNY community. We are a 501(c)(3) non profit, all-volunteer organization.

Economic Development

When you purchase an item made by our clients, all of the profit goes to the person who made the item. This model allows our refugees to have a small business without expenditures for materials.

Community and Fellowship

It is common for many of our refugees to have lived in camps for 10-20 years. Now that they have resettled in Buffalo, we provide a safe space where they can be among their peers, practice their English, and share in everything their new community has to offer.

Empowerment

Our mission is to provide opportunities for our clients to enrich their own lives. We love to see the pride on someone's face when they earn their own sewing machine or make something new for the first time!

Our Partners:

We are grateful to receive support from:

Rich Products
Catholic Charities
Darlene Penacchi Fabric Design
Canisius Enactus
Dyke March Buffalo
Taste of Diversity Festival
Zonta Club of Cheektowaga-Lancaster
Workers Food Co-op
Elizabeth Mast Graphic Design
Tom Wolf Photography

Location

Visiting Our Workspace

We can be found at our West Side workspace on most Saturdays from 10AM-1PM. We are located in the basement of the Catholic Charities Immigration and Refugee Assistance Program building at 9 Herkimer Street, Buffalo NY 14213 (corner of Herkimer and Albany).

Please use the side door on the North side of the building (all other doors are locked) and go down the stairs. We are in the classroom to your right at the bottom of the stairs.

We do not have a retail storefront, but you are welcome to visit us and design a custom order. If you'd like to shop from our existing inventory, please email ahead. We occasionally take a holiday off or may have all our inventory at a festival or craft show!