Tailored to Bless: Bowling Green Ministry Celebrates Milestones, Makes Room for Volunteers

When someone at Bowling Green Church in Kentucky is baptized, welcomes a baby or reaches another milestone, a handmade pillow set may arrive with a message: “Now you can rest your heart and your head in Jesus.”

The gift comes from Tailored to Bless, a ministry founded by church member Faye Leto. Since it began in 2024, volunteers have given away 26 pillow sets. Each one marks a moment in someone’s life while reminding them that their church family noticed.

“We could just go buy a set of pillows and give it to them, but it’s an entirely different thing to receive something that was handmade just for you,” Leto said. “I think it helps the recipient to know that their church family cares about them.”

The ministry has celebrated baptisms, baby dedications, college graduations and couples’ first homes. The ministry has also made pillow sets for about six members who have difficulty getting to church. Leto hopes each gift will remind its recipient that their church family cares about what is happening in their life.

But Leto had another group of church members in mind when she started Tailored to Bless: people who want to serve but cannot keep a fixed volunteer schedule or do not want to take a role in the spotlight.

“Some of the ladies are not keen on being up front, and that can represent a group of people who still have these gifts and talents, and they don’t get tapped very often,” Leto said. “I’m thankful that there’s an opportunity for people to serve in a way that doesn’t have to necessarily look like all the other ways.”

The volunteers sew largely from home, working on projects independently and sharing materials when needed. Three women, including Leto, currently make the pillows. The flexibility helps them serve around the demands of their daily lives.

Volunteer Nay Zar has two young children, making it difficult to commit to ministries with set meeting times. Tailored to Bless lets her contribute around her family’s schedule.

“I really like that I can use my sewing skills and serve from home when I have the time,” Zar said. “It makes it easier for me to be involved without feeling overwhelmed. Even if I’m not able to be involved in everything, I still get to serve in my own way… [and] it feels good knowing that the pillow sets I make can bless someone in our church family.”

June Morris, another volunteer, appreciates that the pillows are given without the maker’s name attached.

“I don’t like to be in the limelight or spotlight,” Morris said. “I just like to do what I like to do. And that’s it.”

Morris also crochets blankets for new babies at church. To her, making something for a church member is much like making a gift for anyone else in her family.

“My church is my family, and I just like doing things for people,” Morris said. “That’s just what you do when love someone.”

Morris hopes the pillows help recipients feel wanted, recognized and like they belong.

That sense of belonging runs in both directions, Leto says. As volunteers learn whose milestone they are sewing for, they remain connected to the lives of people they may not otherwise see often. And when a recipient opens a gift made by hand, they know someone in their church took time to celebrate with them.

For Leto, Tailored to Bless acts as a reminder that caring for a church family includes making room for people to contribute in ways that fit their lives.

“There are many, many, many ways to get involved,” Leto said. “Our creativity sometimes is the only thing that holds us back. You can put together ways to be a blessing. If you have a desire on your heart to be able to be an impact, God gives you an opportunity to do that.”