Current state of the future Weaving Cabin.

Most of you have probably heard about #GivingTuesday the past few years. #GivingTuesday is about more than just one day in December. It is not just about fundraising. It’s about people and their communities coming together to offer their time, manpower, skills, expertise, and resources to bring change to our communities. 

This year #GivingTuesday is on December 3rd, and we, here at Foxfire, will be working towards raising $5,000 for the restoration and clean-up of our future Weaving Cabin. This cabin will be an addition to our artisan village, which currently includes our Village Weaver Sharon Grist, our broom maker Carole Morse, our wood stove cooking classroom in the Warwoman Cabin, and our recently-opened herbalism workshop in the Phillips Cabin. These renovated historic spaces allow us to integrate folk practices and heritage traditions with current artists, scholars, and craftspeople for the benefit of the public and local community.

Foxfire high school fellow Sarah during her summer weaving apprenticeship.

Our vision for the Weaving Cabin is to convert it into a usable space weaving classes and loom rentals, so that students of fiber arts can develop their skills. The cabin will be open for museum visitors to enter and meet artists-in-training. This particular cabin was constructed by Foxfire students out of old wood, salvaged from other historic buildings, as a representation of an 1860s-era mountain dwelling. Unfortunately, over the past 25+ years, the cabin has primarily been used for storage and was not properly maintained. In order to transform this building, it must undergo several repairs including construction of a new porch and tree removal.  

Village Weaver Sharon Grist setting up a historic loom.

As we start our #GivingTuesday campaign this year, we hope that you will help us out. You do not have to wait until December to donate; we will be raising awareness and funds from now until the end of the year. There are many ways that you can help us reach our goal of $5,000. No donation is too small and donations may be submitted on Facebook using the “Donate” button at  the top of the page. We are also encouraging our supporters to create their own personal fundraising page on Facebook, encouraging others to donate. If you would like to create a fundraising page, here is how to proceed: 

1. Click fundraisers on left menu of news feed
2. Click raise money.
3. Select Nonprofit or Charity.
4. Select Charitable organization, choose a cover photo, and fill in fundraiser details.
5. Click Create. 

We are also open to donations of time and labor to assist us in this process. As always, we thank you for your continued support. We look forward to the upcoming project and showing you what your donations can do for our nonprofit and our community!