Solar Oven Partners (SOP) will be shipping materials for an estimated 1,850 solar ovens in the next several months. Every oven is shipped with two potholders – do the math and that’s 3,700 potholders – cut and stitched with love and prayers by potholder makers across the Dakotas and beyond!

“We need more potholders now,” says Marj Evans-de-Carpio, the director of SOP.  She has sent e-mails to churches across the Dakotas, urging current potholder makers to make and send as many potholders as they can to Annual Conference in Bismarck June 8-10. 

“Mondays@Dakotas readers, we need your help,” said Marj. “If your church or quilting group hasn’t caught the potholder-making bug, now is the time.”  Contact Marj via email or at  612-226-6556 for answers to your questions. Marj can connect you with sewing partner churches to learn some of their production tips, too. Your pastor or Annual Conference member can save shipping by bringing your potholders to the SOP booth in the Bismarck Event Center Exhibit Hall C.

Photo: Individuals who love to sew will find SOP potholder-making to be a wonderful ministry, too. To ensure that each oven recipient receives the same size, shape and style of potholder, it’s very important that our volunteer sewers follow the SOP potholder pattern (Click here to download the pattern) and enjoy using your choice of cotton prints in your favorite colors.

The current count is 1,633 potholders on the shelf in the Volga workshop, plus some pledged for delivery at Annual Conference. Approximately 2,500 additional potholders are needed.

Photo: Large potholders that cover forearms protect cooks as they reach into ovens for the black pots with lids used in solar cooking.  Every solar oven recipient receives two potholders.

What drives this increasing demand for potholders? Materials to support two SOP teams are being prepared now. Beginning July 9, a six-member team conducts a pilot project, partnering with FaithWorks outreach based in Flagstaff, AZ. An eight-member team heads for the Dominican Republic in late July with another DR team scheduled for December.

Pushing the potholder mania is more success! Our May newsletter joyously announces the official invitation from the Sierra Leone Annual Conference and Bishop Yambasu to develop a new solar oven partnership. More ovens, more teams soon to be organized and this expanding opportunity in West Africa means more potholders!

Photo at right: Sierra Leone Bishop Yambasu and conference leaders tell Rick Jost that solar ovens can help their country address the threats of climate change and de-forestation.

Photo below: Families in Sierra Leone see important promise in using solar ovens to replace expensive charcoal for cooking. The cost of a week’s worth of charcoal for a family of five is equivalent to $2 to $4 – depending on where you live. In a country where 60% of people live on less than US$1.25 per day, $0.28-$0.57 for cooking fuel each day represents up to a half of people’s limited income literally going up in smoke.

“Though it may come back to overwhelm me in Potholder Heaven, right now I can't overemphasize the need for those potholders to complete our current shipment of ovens, and also ensure that our Dominican Partners have the necessary supply. The blessings of potholders showered upon us to date has been enormous. It is just that this was a very, very ambitious challenge to our sewing partners!” says Rick Jost, now retired and managing the Volga SOP workshop.

Photo right: “We need 2,500 more potholders. We know the potholders are sewn with love, one at a time. Any number sewn by any individual or team will be gratefully received!” says former SOP director Rick Jost.