Since 2011, a team of volunteers has been meeting monthly at Pennington Quilt Works to design and sew quilts to give to children across the country. In May, the group delivered its 1,000th quilt.
The quilters come from a cross section of central New Jersey communities and each wanted to use their quilting skills to assist those in need. These quilts are made to meet specific guidelines so they can be used in healthcare settings as well as other situations, such as disaster relief. The group produces about 30 quilts per month.
The colorful, functional quilts help comfort children confronting medical and emotional situations. Although the quilts are distributed nationally, local organizations have also benefited from the donations. They include Bristol Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Shriners Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Nemours/Alfred I DuPont Hospital for Children in Delaware, the Ryan White Foundation and Hurricane Sandy relief groups. The most recent recipients were children impacted by wildfires in Texas.
Since the group’s inception, privately owned Pennington Quilt Works has donated its space as the meeting place for the local workshop of Quilts for Kids. They have also been generous in donating supplies. This group originally began as a workshop with the help and support of the shop owner, Jan Crane, and the shop manager, Arlene Stilson. That first month, the local Quilts for Kids coordinator, Debbie Greaney, was the only one in attendance. Today, the group has more than 50 active volunteers, of whom 20 attend monthly workshops regularly.
With more than 98 chapters throughout North America and Bahamas, Quilts for Kids transforms fabrics into patchwork quilts that comfort children. More than 200,000 quilts have been distributed to children with life-threatening illnesses, victims of abuse, children living in extreme poverty, and children recovering from disasters. Fabric manufacturers, such as Andover, Northcott, Michael Miller and Timeless Treasures, support Quilt for Kids, which is a tax-exempt non-profit organization based in Fairless Hills, Pa.
Donations are needed to defray costs of shipping. For information, see the website www.quiltsforkids.org.
