DETROIT – Mend On The Move takes old auto parts and turns them into beautiful pieces of jewelry -- and in doing so they help lift up survivors of abuse.
Inside Troy Design and Manufacturing is a little studio where jewelry is being made. Its makers are survivors of domestic abuse. The goal is to provide a path to healing.
It’s a process that founder Joanne Ewald understands all too well. Joanne is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.
“When I was growing up you just didn’t talk about those things,” she said. “But it caught up with me when I was an adult. Really hit me hard when I had kids of my own. I’m getting a little emotional here.”
Jewelry making was integral to Joanne’s healing. That’s why she founded Mend On The Move, to provide an opportunity for fellow survivors to take their lives back.
The organization teaches survivors how to make jewelry from salvaged auto parks and salvaged car seat leather.
She said it also provides survivors with a community of like-minded women who’ve been through similar situations.
“Scrap car parts being turned into something beautiful -- but that’s how our women feel. They feel like scrap. They feel worthless. I felt worthless. I felt like I didn’t have anything to bring to the table. I didn’t have anything to offer and that’s not true and that’s really what we’re trying to do with this program. From scrap to splendor in more ways than one,” she said.
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