Jewelry Making with Teen Moms at Shapiro Shelter

When I brought my jewelry-making supplies to the teenage mothers at Shapiro Shelter, my workshop did not exactly receive an enthusiastic welcome.

At first, some of the girls rolled their eyes at me.

I understood. We were around the same age, and I had arrived carrying boxes of beads and charms and suggesting that we make jewelry together. But I began setting everything out on the table anyway.

Soon, they started looking.

They picked through the charms and beads, choosing what they liked and creating increasingly intricate bracelets. Handbags and crystal hearts were favorites—the same charms I had chosen for my own bracelet. Before long, everyone was comparing designs and deciding what to add next.

At one point, I played with a toddler while his mother worked on her bracelet.

She was my age.

That stayed with me. We were sitting at the same table, drawn to some of the same charms and making bracelets together, but our lives were very different. While I entertained her child, she had a little time to concentrate on making something entirely for herself.

I began these workshops because jewelry making was something I knew how to share. But at Shapiro, what connected us wasn’t really the jewelry. It was the small choices we had in common—the crystal heart we both liked, the handbag charm we both reached for, and the satisfaction of making something that reflected our own style.

By the end, the table was covered with bracelets that were as individual as the young women who had made them.