Rebeka Maples was looking at the extra fabric she had lying around last summer after making masks to donate through her daughter s clothing store when she had an idea.
What if she used it to make clerical stoles a Christian liturgical vestment that consists of a strip of colored cloth worn around the neck of ordained clergy and sent them as a surprise to women pastors in Ohio? I thought, gosh, wouldn t that be nice if you were working in your church and you re tired and then all of a sudden you get this package in the mail and it s a stole? said Maples, 73, a retired United Methodist pastor.