DONOR SPOTLIGHT
A Needle That Helped Build a Family

The following article, written by Sambhali U.S. supporter Theresa Amato, was first published in the Sambhali U.S. 2019-2020 Annual Report.

Clockwise from left: Teresa Amato in Italy, and making suits in Chicago; the author as a flower girl in her grandmother’s finery

Clockwise from left: Teresa Amato in Italy, and making suits in Chicago; the author as a flower girl in her grandmother’s finery

My paternal grandmother Teresa (Ricciardelli) Amato was a seamstress raised in Bracigliano, Italy, where, with an elementary school education, she taught young girls how to sew. In 1938, Teresa bravely left Mussolini's Italy without her husband, but with my father in her arms. She arrived in Illinois not knowing English, but her sewing skills landed her a factory job making men's suits. She continued to work for many years after her husband arrived to be able to send my father to medical school. Joseph J. Amato became chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery and a professor, inventing procedures and devices as he stitched the hearts of thousands of children. 

As a child, I was my Nonna’s go-to flower girl for elaborate Italian weddings where she often made the dresses of the bride and bridal party. Weekends under her watchful eyes were spent learning not only how to sew on buttons, but all the ways of the ”bella figura.” My dolls had hand-stitched Italian finery, though they lived in a cardboard shoebox. In high school, she warned me to ”watch out for the badda boys,” and conveyed a love so profoundly unconditional that I always felt safe. Nonna continued to make or alter many of the outfits I would wear for important occasions, even the suits I needed as a young lawyer going to court. She was still sewing when she passed away at age 87.

One of her last gifts was a quilt of fabric scraps from the outfits she had made for me over the years. She also made two baby girl dresses for the two great-granddaughters she would not live to see. How did she know I would have them?

I contributed to Sambhali U.S. in memory of my grandmother, as a gift to her two great-granddaughters, and to thank and encourage the Board of Directors for their leadership to advance the dreams and empowerment of the women and girls in India. Fundamentally, I know how one seamstress, with courage, determination, hard work, and love, can provide a better life for generations of her family and so many others around the world.