The Hands That Shape Us: Celebrating Nancy Smeltzer During National Volunteer Month

Published by Priscila Teixeira | The Fashion Community & Columbus Fashion Academy

What does it look like when someone gives their gifts freely — not because they have to, but because they genuinely cannot imagine doing anything else?

It looks like Nancy Smeltzer.

April is National Volunteer Month, and we want to use this moment to celebrate the woman who has quietly, consistently, and brilliantly shown up for our fashion artists, our students, and our entire community — month after month, season after season — as The Fashion Community's number one volunteer.

Nancy doesn't just show up. She brings something. An expertise honed across decades. A patience that never performs itself. And an artist's eye that sees beauty in the things most people walk right past — a scrap of fabric, a tangled thread, a child's uncertain hands holding a needle for the first time.

That's the kind of volunteer you can't hire. That's the kind of person who defines a community.

Why Volunteers Like Nancy Are at the Heart of Everything We Do

The Fashion Community is a Columbus-based nonprofit whose mission is simple and radical at once: fashion is the medium, and transformation is the mission. We are the host and heart of a growing ecosystem of events, workshops, and community gatherings that bring people together through the creative power of fashion. Our educational programming is delivered in partnership with Columbus Fashion Academy — whose methodology centers the belief that artistic freedom is a human right and every child deserves agency.

But none of it happens without people like Nancy.

Transformation doesn't happen in a vacuum. It happens in rooms full of generous people — people who bring their whole selves, their skills, their creativity, their warmth, and offer it as a gift to children and families who deserve exactly that kind of attention and care.

Nancy has been part of our village for over 15 years. She leads various art workshops at The Fashion Community's events, supports Columbus Fashion Academy students through hand-craft techniques (her embroidery skills are amazing too), and — most importantly — creates the kind of calm, joyful atmosphere where a child feels safe enough to try something new and brave enough to make it their own.

That is rare. That is a gift.

Something Beautiful Is Coming — and Nancy Has Been Building It for Months

Here is something that tells you everything you need to know about Nancy Smeltzer: she didn't wait for a workshop date to start making flowers. She heard of a need in the Board room, she wanted to support the mission, she found a way to fundraise using scraps.

For the past two months, Nancy has been quietly, steadily creating textile flowers on her own — gardens of them — exploring variations, testing techniques, building a living reference that she brought to our students not as an instruction sheet, but as an open invitation. Here is what's possible. Now show me what you'll do.

That is the kind of artist she is. That is the kind of volunteer she is.

Later this month, Nancy will lead The Fashion Community's workshop where Columbus Fashion Academy's young fashion artists will gather to make handcrafted textile flowers from upcycled fabric scraps — each one one-of-a-kind, each one will be signed by the student who creates it. Two months of Nancy's quiet, dedicated preparation will pour into an afternoon that children will remember.

These flowers are being made with purpose. They will be available at The Fashion Community's Spring Fashion Show on May 17 at the Canzani Center at CCAD — a fundraiser and celebration that supports our programs and keeps creative education possible. After the show, the fundraising continues. We plan to offer new one-of-a-kind flowers in our online charity shop.

The show is private to the families of CFA students. Dozens of Columbus Fashion Academy's elementary-age fashion artists will walk a real runway — brave, luminous, wearing sustainable looks that tell their "slow fashion" design stories. For nearly ten years, this privately held event has been one of the most joyful gatherings in the city.

What National Volunteer Month Means to Us

The Corporation for National and Community Service estimates that volunteers contribute an economic value of approximately $29.95 per hour to the organizations and communities they serve.¹ But numbers like that will never capture what Nancy brings to our studio.

What she brings is presence. Skill. Delight in the creative process. An understanding — born of years of experience — that the act of making something by hand is never just about the thing being made.

It's about what happens in the maker.

Research from the American Journal of Occupational Therapy confirms what our fashion artists experience every week: textile crafts and hand-based creative activities reduce cortisol levels, support emotional regulation, and activate reward pathways in the brain.² When Nancy teaches a child to fold and gather fabric into a flower petal, she is giving them more than a craft skill. She is giving them a tool for life.

That is what the best volunteers do. They bring their whole expertise to bear and leave something behind that keeps growing long after they've gone home.

The Art of Second Chances Lives in Every Petal

There is one more thing we want to share because it belongs in this story.

Some of the wire shaping the petals in these flowers, and some of the green floral wrap finishing the stems, belonged to Susan Lee.

Susan was a beloved member of The Fashion Community. She attended every single Mend in Public event we ever held; always present, always creating, always herself, until she passed away. Her sister gave us her lifetime of creative beauty: her fabrics, her handmade clothes, her sewing supplies, her craft materials. Everything she had spent a lifetime gathering and loving. It's an honor and a joy to create with Susan Lee's memories.

Yesterday, in the hands of children who never had the chance to meet her, Susan Lee's materials bloomed again. Her generosity became a flower.

That is the art of second chances. That is what we mean when we say: Transform Waste into Wonder.

Come Be Part of It

To support our mission and our volunteers consider sponsoring a workshop, purchasing a handcrafted flower, or simply contributing financially. Every donation impact our ability to deliver this work and support this community. 

This is what Wear What You Love looks like when it's lived out loud.

About the Author

Priscila Teixeira is an award-winning community leader, passionate educator, fashion artist, and public speaker, dedicated to empowering people through creativity and fostering meaningful change. She is the Founder and CEO of Columbus Fashion Academy, a local social enterprise transforming lives through sustainable fashion, and the Founder and Executive Director of The Fashion Community, a nonprofit human services agency committed to caring for all people through innovative programs and initiatives that cultivate creativity. With a postgraduate degree in Fashion Business and Communications, graduating cum laude, Priscila has earned recognition for her work across Brazil, Cuba, and the United States, spanning roles in major corporations to small businesses. Passionate about human rights, justice, equality, inclusion, fairness, and artistic freedom; she believes adults, parents, educators, and community leaders have a responsibility to guide and support children and youth. She believes our community must lead and inspire by example, showing care for people and the planet. Through her work, Priscila blends artistry and advocacy to inspire others and create a more sustainable and equitable world.

References

1. Independent Sector. "Value of Volunteer Time." https://independentsector.org/resource/vovt/
2. Riley, J., Corkhill, B., & Morris, C. (2013). "The benefits of knitting for personal and social wellbeing in adulthood: findings from an international survey." British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(2), 50–57. https://doi.org/10.4276/030802213X13603244419077