April 1, 2009
Linda Arye, the founding President, established Quilts for Kids, Inc. in 2000 when she saw how many pounds of fabric were being thrown into her local landfill because the pattern had been discontinued or there was a small defect in the fabric. Mrs. Arye put her interior designer skills to use and began making quilts for children from this fabric. She has teamed up with design houses and fabric makers across the country to have them ship their fabrics to the headquarters and to local chapters.
The organization now has 50 chapters both in the US and outside who have made over 50,000 quilts and saved over 8 million pounds of fabric from landfills nationwide. Quilts have gone to Hurricane Katrina survivors, the Families of September 11th and children abroad who are suffering the ills of war in their countries.
The South of Boston Quilts for Kids Chapter of Quilts for Kids, Inc. began in 2007 when Mary Ann O’Neil decided after making a quilt for her granddaughter that she could make quilts for other small children. Her sister, a nurse at South Shore Hospital’s Neonatal Unit, told her that infants that are born premature could use the quilts to shield the harsh lights from their eyes. Mrs. O’Neil discovered the national headquarters for Quilts for Kids in Pennsylvania and a new chapter was started in Massachusetts.
Locally, our quilts have been going to a variety of sites. We have sent quilts to the Careworks Food Pantry where they were welcomed with open arms. The children at the Family Shelter for the Plymouth Coalition for the Homeless have been given snuggly quilts to call their own. The Renewal House of West Roxbury, a safe house for women and their children, benefited from our day long quilt-a-thon. A child commented that “it was so nice that someone cared about him” the night he was tucked in with his new quilt.
Recently, we have become the “Friends of the Oncology, Hematology and Stem Cell Unit” at Children’s Hospital. This unit has 33 beds that are always full with children from birth to 21 years. Summer Menefee, the social worker for the unit, said the parents love the brightness and warm feelings our quilts bring to their children’s hospital beds. They often can’t bring their own things from home so this makes the transition to their hospital bed a bit easier.
A story caught Mrs. O’Neil out of the corner of her eye in the newspaper about the Chernobyl Children’s Project (www.ccpusa.org). We did a bit of research, spoke with Patty Doyle and found that this organization is just what we love. We decided it would be wonderful to welcome these 70 children with quilts from us. Then the idea came to include all the sister chapters in this endeavor as well and make it a huge welcome from the United States. At this time we have quilts coming from Alaska, California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Connecticut.
We are on “pins and needles” with excitement to hand these quilts to the children on June 23rd at The Boston Seaport Hotel.
Contact information:
Linda Arye, President
Quilts for Kids
www.quiltsforkids.org
Patty Doyle, President
Chernobyl Children Project, USA
www.ccpusa.org
South of Boston Quilts for Kids
Maryann O’Neil
southofbostonquiltsforkids@verizon.net
781-585-2370
Debbie Grace
Debbie.grace@comcast.net
781-585-6896