FAIRHOPE, Ala. — This weekend at the Fairhope Arts & Crafts Festival, a group of girls will be selling jewelry in front of the Chamber of Commerce building on Fairhope Avenue.

The girls are residents at Under His Wings in Robertsdale, a long-term Christian home for local teenage girls in crisis. During their time at Under His Wings — a minimum of six months — the girls learn about God's love, stable relationships, good character and establishing a healthy, independent lifestyle. Each girl is nurtured and loved by the staff, volunteers and dedicated house parents.

Part of the mission of Under His Wings is to teach the girls about real-life responsibility. In addition to continuing their academic studies online, the girls have recently adopted jewelry making as a way to express their creativity as well as learn important life skills, like deadlines, creating something with excellence, running a small business, money management and customer service.

“It's taught me a lot of patience and understanding,” says one of the girls (names cannot be used to protect the girls' privacy). “When I'm doing jewelry, I feel like, 'This is how God feels when he is trying to mold us, because we are stubborn and we need to be pressed and shaped by him.'”

Under His Wings board member Malynda McLaughlin also made and sold jewelry as a teenager and suggested it might be a good activity for the girls.

“She suggested it, and then I can't even express how everything came together,” says volunteer Marlene Mesler. “God just totally blessed them with beads and supplies and volunteers to help teach the girls. And being able to go to the Arts & Crafts Festival, we never even dreamed of happening.”

McLaughlin has brought in professional jewelry artists to teach the girls how to make jewelry that is attractive and durable.

“They pour their heart and soul into this,” McLaughlin says. “I love to see the designs they come up with. It's empowered them to be creative and to try new things. It's been so cool to see how they have blossomed by learning new skills.”

Youth Leadership Connection: The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce's Youth Leadership program adopted Under His Wings as one of its six community projects this year. Mesler's son Mason happened to be on the team that chose the Under His Wings project.

Through Youth Leadership, local high school students and others donated beads and supplies to support the jewelry project. At Youth Leadership graduation, Mason Mesler shared that the girls would someday like to sell their jewelry at the Arts & Crafts Festival.

Because of the Youth Leadership team's passion for this project, Chamber President Darrelyn Bender decided to waive the entry fee allow the girls to sell their jewelry at the festival.

“It's amazing what they can accomplish when you give the power to youth,” she says. “For them to take this project past Youth Leadership graduation, that's when we know we've really made an impact and shown them the power of being involved in a community.”

Mesler says the girls are immensely grateful for the opportunity they have been given and have been working hard to have enough jewelry to sell.

“We thought maybe years from now we could do the festival,” Melinda says. “But she was so gracious. The girls are so excited by that gift of being able to be in the festival, and they have been working night and day. They have little Ziploc backs full of jewelry that they love to show off.”

Malynda and other jewelry professionals will inspect all jewelry for quality before it is brought to the festival. She expects the girls to have about 100 pieces for sale.

Proceeds from the festival will be set aside in a scholarship fund for each girl.

WHAT: Jewelry made by girls at Under His Wings

WHEN: All weekend at the Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival

WHERE: Booth in front of the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce office on Fairhope Ave.

WHY: To teach girls valuable life skills and express creativity in a productive, profitable way.