PROGRESS 2019 | Quilts for Kids: Local sewing group donates thousands of quilts to hospitalized children
Published 9:56 am Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Sharon Holbrook looks through a stack of quilts turned in during a Saturday meeting of Quilts for Kids.
Quilts for Kids member Deb Evans puts the final touches on a bear, which will be given to a child staying in a hospital. The group was recently asked to make the bears as a special request, among the quilts the group usually makes.
Club member Cindy Bond starts on her next quilt.
Chapter founder Rosemary Campbell sews a quilt with an alphabet decor. Campbell said they work with donated material.
Rosemary Campbell planned to start quilting when she retired from teaching.
She took classes at a local quilting shop, joined a quilting club and got to work.
When she saw a magazine article about a national organization called Quilts for Kids, she brought the idea to her local quilting club to see if anyone was interested in participating.
Quilts for Kids makes items for children in hospitals, including quilts, sheets, hats for infants and other items.
From that point in 2010, the Bluegrass chapter started sewing and started growing.
Today, the chapter has donated more than 2,400 quilts, mostly to the Kentucky Children’s Hospital in Lexington, and has about 25 active members spread throughout central Kentucky.
The club, she said, fills several needs beyond the recipients.
It is also an outlet for quilters.
“There are (only) so many quilts we can make for our families,” she said. “It’s a chance to keep serving children. I think it’s a gift to the families as much as the children.”
Campbell said the club meets monthly at the Clark County Extension Office to sew, though many members work on their own at home and send the finished items to Campbell.
About every three months, the club will deliver quilts and other items to University of Kentucky officials, who distribute the items as needed.
“Every time we make a quilt, we sit … and say prayers,” she said. “We never know who will receive the quilts.”
“May they be wrapped in grace and strength and healing,” the group prays.
At one time, club member Deb Evans was on the receiving end of others’ generosity and compassion.
“I had a son who was born with problems,” Evans said, “so we were the parents in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). There were lots of groups that brought things in for the parents — people they didn’t know. It really meant a lot to me when we were parents.”
When Evans was preparing to retire and move from Chicago to Versailles, she was looking for a service group and found the national Quilts for Kids website and then the Winchester chapter.
“I wanted to be on the other end of the spectrum,” and help those who are where she was with her son, she said.
Evans thinks she’s made about 60 quilts so far, but has branched out into other items as requested.
“I also knit and crochet so I make the little hats for the babies,” she said. “I’ve made some of the sheets for the NICU. We’ve been asked by the foster care system to make bears. I have 12 bears to turn in this Saturday.”
Campbell said most of the members are mothers and grandmothers, though there is a husband and wife couple who are quite active.
“We have several nurses who worked with fragile children in the past who have been part of the group,” she said.
The chapter is open to anyone who wants to participate.
“We have a nice supply of fabric that was donated,” she said. “We have kits people can take home.”
For more information, go to www.quiltsforkids.org. §
About Fred Petke
Fred Petke is a reporter for The Winchester Sun, the Jessamine Journal and the State Journal. His beats include cops, courts, fire, public records, city and county government and other news. To contact Fred, email fred.petke@bluegrassnewsmedia.com or call 859-759-0051.
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