At the heart of Fort Recovery Church of the Nazarene, a missions-minded church in Northern Ohio, are two women who call themselves the “Bag Ladies.” They can make a bag from scratch in eight minutes flat and joke that it takes longer to cut the fabric than it does to make the bag.

103-year-old Esther Jetter and her friend Emily Daugherty have sewn thousands of handbags that are sent overseas. They’ve filled orders for a school in Haiti, crafted totes for victims of human trafficking in Africa, and currently are in the midst of a 1,000-bag project that would pair the bags with Bibles that are sent to Africa through the Christian Literature for Africa Association.

“They might not have something to put their items in,” Daugherty said. “You think about it, in the United States we’re so spoiled. A cloth bag that’s 50 square inches is so important to them.”

Daugherty has burnt out two sewing machines since the friends started their ministry and nearly blew out a third just last week. But the Lord has continued to provide for the two, who have never had to pay for fabric or a sewing machine.

Someone donated a spring to keep Daugherty’s sewing machine alive, and most of the fabric the two friends use is donated or picked up from yard sales by members of the community who know about their project. Old window curtains, tablecloths, shirts, and dresses have all turned into bags that have been shipped overseas.

“God oversees this,” Daugherty said. “We are just so blessed that we can do this.”

Each bag is sewed with different materials.

“I want (the bags) to be uniquely theirs,” Daugherty said. “I say my prayers when I’m sewing so that where they’re going, they’ll be useful and bless somebody.”

For a while, it was just Jetter and Daughterty. When they took on the 1,000-bag project, they saw their group double from two to four. After a local newspaper article went out, the group of volunteers grew to a dozen.

While the church has had highs and lows since its founding in 1928 — whittling down to just 30 people and increasing again to roughly 75 during Sunday services — the heart for missions never died.

 Esther and her now-deceased husband, George Jetter, moved to the city in 1945 when George created a brass foundry and zinc die casting company called Fort Recovery Industries.

“We actually flush our toilets because of George Jetter,” Daugherty joked. “He invented the piece that goes on the back of it.”

George and Esther helped instill a missions-minded ethos in the congregation from the start as they were involved in many humanitarian projects with the Church of the Nazarene in countries around the world. Their son, Paul Jetter, eventually became a Nazarene missionary who served in the Bahamas, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras from 1976 to 1990.

Daugherty’s great uncle was a charter member of Fort Recovery, and Daugherty has attended there her whole life.

“I feel like I’m carrying on the legacy,” Daugherty said.