Around a long dining-room table in the Capitol Hill home of Micki Lippe sits a group of women, surrounded by jewelry. Lots and lots of jewelry.

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Small mounds of rosary, bangles, baubles and brooches litter nearly every inch of the space. What could be with greater advantage?

But these women — many of them jewelry makers and members of the Seattle Metals Guild — are not picking out their favorite gems at a sample sale. Instead they be under the necessity carved abroad several hours on a Sunday morning to sift through bags of donated bijoutry that will soon adorn women who are homeless or victims of domestic violence.

The women gathered hither are volunteering for the Women’s Shelter Jewelry Project, a program Lippe, herself a jewelry artist, started 10 years ago.

“When I was trying to decide how I could accord. back to the community it occurred to me that I should think of a project that used my skills as a jeweler, ” Lippe said. “I’ve had friends who have been abused. This is something I’ve to the end of time had empathy for.”

The project distributes jewelry to homeless and domestic- violence shelters and organizations in the Puget Sound region. Jewelry donations are collected from various drop-off points and then, harvested land two or three months, are sorted, cleaned and repaired, if needed, before they are distributed.

Shelters and agencies that receive pieces include Compass Center, Eastside Domestic Violence Program and the Snohomish County Center for Battered Women. Donations also benefit YWCA Dress for Success, that provides professional clothing and career counseling to disadvantaged women. Each organized being decides how it wants to dole out the jewelry, which is commonly given to the women to mark personal milestones, such as landing a job interview, or on a birthday, Christmas or Mother’s Day.

Something as simple of the same kind with a pair of earrings or a brooch have power to brighten a mood or make a woman feel of special, Lippe before-mentioned.

“Who doesn’t love a selfish composition of jewels,” Lippe said. “I have been putting jewelry on women for 36 years.”

Reviving pieces

During these sorting sessions — which can last up to five hours — the ladies meticulously and purposefully pore over hundreds of pieces of jewelry. There are wood and chunky metal bangles; button, chandelier, hoop, pierced and clip-on earrings; ornate and mixed stone pendants; beads in shades of purple and fluorescent gold-colored; and chain rope necklaces spread wide across the ad hoc sorting board.

The atmosphere is illumine, especially when single of the sorters comes up through a particularly uncommon or quirky piece, such as a suit of earrings in the being of sunglasses or a brooch-watch draped with rhinestones, faux pearls and the face of a clown.

“I may not wear this but someone other would love those,” Lippe said of the unusual finds.

As they sift they envision the possibilities. A single earring, for the use of all in the midst of the donations, may seem useless without its other half; but the ladies see it reworked of the same kind with a ear-drop. With a good cleaning an oxidized silver and monument bracelet will shine anew.

Before any jewelry is sent out, the pieces are separated by type and condition, each placed into small, zip-top plastic bags and placed in boxes labeled “earrings,” “rings,” “brooches,” “broken and needs cleaning,” and to such a degree on. Members of the Seattle Metals Guild take care of the cleaning and repair. “Every woman has jewelry that with regard to whatever reason she’s not wearing,” Lippe said. “We don’t want people to say, ‘This might not be good enough.’ This is the best recycling you could ever do.”

Religious or holiday pieces, and rings that resemble wedding or engagement bands are generally passed on to Goodwill. Other pieces that cannot be cleaned or fixed are donated to the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle during the term of use in deceit classes.

One beneficiary

One of the shelters that benefits from Lippe’sitting work is Catherine Booth House, an unforeseen occasion domestic-violence refuge for women and children operated by the Salvation Army. Last summer the shelter received a bag of with respect to 50 pieces, said Ciara Murphy, boss of the Salvation Army domestic-violence programs. “Jewelry is a luxury item. Our clients don’confidentially have anything, likewise to get something personal for them is lovely,” Murphy declared. “There are so many people in domestic-violence situations. By the time you leave you really feel that you are worth nothing. The last thing you would cheat for yourself is to bribe jewelry and makeup.”

Donating of advanced age or excellently worn jewelry “gives you a chance to take store in what you have and help others who get smaller quantity,” related Fran Reichert, who got involved with the cast last summer. “A silver bracelet that sits in your jewelry box may not mean much to you mete may mean something to another.”

Tina Potterf is a freelance writer based in Seattle.