Photos by by Jan Britt.
Earlier this year, the Atlanta chapter of the Window Coverings Association of America (WCAA) resumed a community tradition that not only gives back to breast cancer patients but also raises awareness of the disease. On September 15, chapter members held a day-long workshop to make Anti-Ouch Pouches—soft, tapered, hanging pillows crafted with window covering materials that protect surgical incisions from friction. The pillow hangs from the shoulder, fitting snugly under the arm to cushion the breast area after surgery and during radiation treatment. The adjustable pouches are intended to look like tote bags and may be used on either side of the body.
The Anti-Ouch Pouch initiative began in Illinois in 2006 and was selected two years later as the American Sewing Guild’s National Community Service Project. Since that time, it has achieved nationwide recognition, with volunteer groups sewing thousands of pouches and donating them to hospitals, breast care centers, and cancer outreach organizations around the country. The Atlanta chapter of the WCAA took up the project in 2008, but it came to a halt during the pandemic. When local WCAA board members spoke to chapter president Pamela Haston about reviving it, she recruited someone she knew could spearhead the initiative—Marietta interior designer and educator Jan Britt, who has been a member of the Atlanta WCAA chapter since 2007 and served on its board for years.
Photos by by Jan Britt.
Enthusiasm took hold as the organization’s members rallied to relaunch the beloved project. Julie Culpepper contacted companies to obtain donations of Velcro and batting; and James Forlini, chapter vice president, offered the upstairs loft of his Lilburn work room as a space for creating the pouches. “We had about a dozen people [from the chapter] working,” Pamela says. “It was a little assembly line, with Jan supervising.”
A crew from A Stitch Above the Rest, a window treatment store in Woodstock, also joined in. At the end of the day, 75 pouches were made and delivered to Loving Arms Cancer Outreach and Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center, both in Marietta. “We had donated pouches there in the past,” Jan says, adding that the organizations told her that patients loved receiving them.
Photos by by Jan Britt.
“It’s so rewarding to help this community,” Pamela says, adding that she looks forward not only to continuing the Anti-Ouch Pouch initiative but also to undertaking similar community projects to increase the organization’s visibility and help others. “There’s so much potential here.”
Jan agrees. “Events like this are reminders of the things we can achieve when we work together,” she says. “This is a great way the local design community can offer comfort and support to breast cancer patients.”
Photos by by Jan Britt.
