Adel Smith, left, is pictured with Kathy Dean, owner of Mocha Moment coffeeshop in Janesville, and Dean's grandson Ziggy, around a table at Mocha Moment.
JANESVILLE — With a slight tremble, Adel Smith’s hand passes over a rainbow-colored Worry Worm, its pink hearts blushing, its eyes and smile finely embroidered in black.
Adel Smith holds a Worry Worm she handmade on her sewing machine at Oak Park Place, in Janesville, where she lives.
HANNAH POWELL/ HANNAH.POWELL@APG-SW.COM
Smith, 85, of Janesville, who learned to sew as a child on her mother’s treadle machine, handmade the Worry Worm at her own machine. Attached with a string is a piece of paper bearing the words, “I am your little Worry Worm. Hold me tight, tell me all your worries to make everything alright.”
Smith both makes to give away and owns a few of her own personal Worry Worms. They comforted her in a time of anxieties and sorrow after her husband of 44 years, Warren, passed away in February.
He died clutching one of her Worry Worms.
Since then, “I have been using the Worry Worms as a way to help my grief,” Smith said.
Adel Smith, left, is pictured with Kathy Dean, owner of Mocha Moment coffeeshop in Janesville, and Dean's grandson Ziggy, around a table at Mocha Moment.
HANNAH POWELL/ HANNAH.POWELL@APG-SW.COM
Smith has in the past sewn small bears, cats and dogs for children having surgery at Mercy Hospital in Janesville, where her granddaughter works.
This past year, when she got sick and spent time in rehab at the Stoughton Hospital, she brought a handmade Worry Worm with her. Before she left the hospital, a staff member asked her to make more of the worms to hand out to other patients.
She ultimately sent Stoughton Hospital more than 100 worms. She also made worms for her granddaughter to take to Mercy Hospital with her, and for other residents of her floor at Oak Park Place in Janesville.
Sewing and giving away her creations has always been a passion and healing practice of Smith’s.
Once, when she met a cat that belonged to another resident of Oak Park Place, “a great big white cat with brown and green eyes,” she was inspired to sew something in his likeness.
“I came back to my room and drew him on my sewing machine and made a pillow. I took it down to his owner and she was so happy,” Smith recalls.
For Kathy Dean, the owner of Mocha Moment, a Janesville coffeeshop where Smith has gathered weekly with a knitters’ group for more than 13 years, she sewed a new apron to replace a torn one. She also sewed a child-sized apron for Dean’s grandson.
“All I want to do is give to people, that makes me happy.” Smith said.
Her friend for more than 45 years, Paula DeRubeis, belongs to the knitting group as well and said the Worry Worms were “just another wonderful idea from Adel.”
DeRubeis has also been passed a hand-sewn doll made by Adel, that has now comforted several women as they battled breast cancer.
“Nancy Holt was a really good friend of ours who had breast cancer and Adel made her this doll,” DeRubeis said. “Last year, I had breast cancer. Nancy died years ago; Nancy’s daughter sent me the doll when she learned of my diagnosis. It’s sitting in my rocking chair at home.”
“You have made such a large impact on so many people,” DeRubeis said, looking over at Smith during a recent interview.
“We don’t just keep gifts from Adel, we keep them while we need them and then pass them on.” DeRubeis continued.
Worry Worms Overseas
Adel Smith, left, and Mariah Kimes, hold bowl filled with 100 Worry Worms handmade by Smith.
HANNAH POWELL/ HANNAH.POWELL@APG-SW.COM
Through their knitting group Smith also met a young woman named Mariah Kimes, a traveling medical laboratory scientist from Memphis, Tennessee.
Kimes is working in Janesville for four months, has one more travel position at another hospital, and then hopes with enough fundraising to leave on a Mercy Ship in August to Madagascar.
Kimes aims to fundraise $15,000, which will cover room and board, travel costs, and personal expenses while serving on board. She will be doing all of her work unpaid, donating her time.
Mercy Ships is an international charity providing free surgery and healthcare in developing nations, mainly Africa, via hospital ships staffed by global volunteer professionals. This will be Kimes’ first time serving with Mercy Ships, that is supported through private donations.
“I love what I do and I love helping others. This just felt like another way I can do both of those things,” Kimes said. “The work the Mercy Ships do changes lives. It helps people become a part of their communities again, especially if they are ostracized due to their physical ailments.”
Recently, Smith worked for two days straight, sewing more than 120 worms for patients, both children and adults, facing surgery on the Mercy Ship. The Worry Worms will “help with their stress or fears,” she said.
“I love the idea of bringing the worms and handing them out to our patients,” Kimes said. “It’s something easy for them to hold onto and squeeze if they get nervous or scared.”
Smith has now sewn more than 200 of the Worry Worms for people in Janesville, Stoughton and Madison, not including those for Kimes’ upcoming trip and her own personal Worry Worms.
With no immediate plans to stop, Smith said she hopes others will join her in making Worry Worms and then will pass their Worry Worms onto the next person in need.
