Endless Possibilities: About Us

Endless Possibilities sits on Budleigh Street in the charming waterside town of Manteo like a treasure waiting to be found. It feels like a magical place. There are large looms with partially finished projects. Baskets on the floor filled with colorful scraps of cloth that inspection reveals to be discarded men’s ties, and bits and pieces of clothing. Tapestries grace the walls. Scarves hang from racks. No matter where you look there is color and fabric forming art.

Although it looks like a fiber art and craft emporium the visitor quickly learns that Endless Possibilities is more than a quirky and creative gallery, it’s actually a fund raising program of the Outer Banks Hotline Crisis Intervention and Prevention Center. It’s also part weaving program, part community center, part recycling program, and part haven.

Some ideas are breathtakingly simple and obvious only in retrospect. Start with lots of discarded fabric. Add a fiber artist who specializes in weaving and who sees possibilities others have missed. Take a human services organization that’s open to innovation. And you have the beginnings of Endless Possibilities.

“I was teaching at an art center,” explains Rabiah Hodges, now the director of Endless Possibilities, ”next door was a thrift center, operated by the Hotline.” Hotline is the a 24 hours a day crisis center for domestic violence, sexual assault, HIV/AIDs management,” says Lynn Bryant, Executive Director of Outer Banks Hotline, Inc. Started in 1980 by volunteers, it fills gaps both in time and services for people in crisis. One of their main sources of revenue had been the clothing donations sold in their thrift stores.

Not all the clothing brought to these centers is usable. Items that are dirty, stained, or torn are discarded. Contemplating the heap of rejects from the thrift store next door, Rabiah didn’t see rags, she saw raw material, and started introducing it into her teaching. With surprising results. “The combination of rags and yarns together made a beautiful woven cloth,” says Rabiah.

When Lynn Bryant saw the weaving Rabiah had created with the discards, Lynn knew immediately that she found not only a way to raise money for the Hotline but also a place where people could begin to reweave their own lives.

Like most social service organizations, Hotline is always fundraising to survive. But the notion of weaving was intriguing, and inherently satisfying metaphor for the work of the Hotline. “It’s such a traditional craft and very healing,” says Bryant. ”It’s making something whole out of something in pieces.” Traditional woven pieces of yarn lose their individuality. The fiber art of Endless Possibilities is full of buttons and tags. The ends of men’s ties stick out from the sides of the finished wall hangings. It can readily be seen that something beautiful made from parts of other things. And it’s made even richer because the cloth includes actual buttons and clothing oddments and features.

In June, 2002 Endless Possibilities opened for business in that warm brick-walled shop on Roanoke Island and began not only selling gorgeous fiber art, and raising money for its Hotline, it also began the process of reviving the art of weaving by teaching volunteers this creative craft. Some of those volunteers and weavers started out as Hotline callers.

Much of this history and purpose isn’t obvious to people when they first walk through the door. Instead they see handbags and wall hangings, rugs and scarves. They see weavers on looms, people chatting over a cup of coffee and warmth and invitation. Few can resist the atmosphere or the invitation to learn to weave.

“People come by and watch, and soon they are just itching to start,” says Bryant. “Our regular weavers invite them to try. Sitting at the loom is fun and everyone likes to do it.”

“We have 14 looms and we have a variety of projects,” explains Rabiah. “We supply material, and teach you how to weave,” says Rabiah. That includes help with the design and colors, and any assistance along the way. Once a project is finished they help take the weaving off the loom and tie the knots to finish it off.

Endless Possibilities sells the rugs, placemats, wall hangings etc. in the store. “We have 5 – 15 weavers a day, and anywhere 15- 55 weavers per week,” says Rabiah. I’ve trained over 600 weavers since we’ve started this project.” The program has been very successful in another way. Last year Endless Possibilities raised over $90,000 for the Hotline.

The appeal of Endless Possibilities extends beyond people doing a good deed. It is a truly welcoming place, offering community, teaching weaving, and providing a new life for fabric, and for people. “That’s the message we give,” says Bryant, “like one of our weavings, you can take the pieces of your life and put them back together. it won’t be the same but it may be more beautiful.” says Bryant.

The creations of Endless Possibilities aren’t what you might consider the typical do-good products people buy out of social conscience. They are fiber art masquerading as scarves, pocket books, place mats, rugs and more. They are indeed craft products at their finest. I should know, I wandered in one day on vacation and left with a chenille scarf alight with color and elegance. Next time I go, I’m going to learn to weave.