volunteers

Patty Namba named CCCF Volunteer of the Year

Patty NambaCoffee Creek Correctional Facility has named our own Patty Namba as CCCF Volunteer of the Year. Patty has been a CCQ instructor since 2012, currently teaching in our Wednesday evening class. She also serves on our Board of Directors, heads the PR committee, and co-chairs our Annual Sale and Fundraiser. A lot of us in CCQ are retired, but Patty works full time. We don’t know how, but she finds time to quilt too. Patty especially enjoys making scrap quilts and typically makes five or six of them for donation every year.

“Teaching quilting is my most rewarding activity,” Patty said. “Working with the women at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility is the highlight of my week because I get to help them realize their self-improvement goals.”

CCCF recognized Patty with a letter, a certificate, and a trophy with her name engraved on it. She also gets the temporary use of a highly-valued close-in parking space for the rest of the year.

Congratulations, Patty!

CCQ instructors donate pillowcases for foster kids

PillowcasesCoffee Creek Quilters instructors sewed 163 pillowcases this holiday season for donation to the Sleep Country Foster Kids program. This has become an annual tradition that parallels the donation of quilts made throughout the year by students in our prison quilting program.

In addition to pillowcases, Sleep Country accepts donations of pajamas, shoes, clothing, school supplies, coats, and toys. Cash donations are also welcome. Sleep Country started the Foster Kids program in 2005 with the goal of improving the lives of thousands of foster kids in the Northwest. The program makes it possible for foster youth to take part in healthy and productive extracurricular activities, gain independent living skills, and even go to college.

For more information about the Sleep Country program, check out their website.

Meet our volunteers: Peggy Gelbrich

PeggyPeggy Gelbrich, an instructor in our Tuesday morning class, was featured in an article titled “A passion for piecing: through volunteering and teaching, master quilter shares her skills with others” in the October 28, 2014 edition of the McMinnville News-Register. Peggy is an award-winning quilter who taught quilting classes in the community long before joining CCQ. She currently teaches at various Oregon quilt shops including Boersma’s in McMinnville and Sewn Loverly in Wilsonville.

Peggy is also a talented quilt designer. One of her designs, called “Irish Snail,” is an adaptation of traditional snail’s trail and Irish chain blocks. Another one, called “Jacob’s Snail,” combines the jacob’s ladder and snail’s trail blocks to make a quilt that appears to twirl. She offers patterns for some of her designs on her website.

Peggy’s business card reads “helping you learn is my passion,” and that sentiment carries through to her participation in CCQ. Peggy believes that learning to give to others is as important as learning to combine fabrics or sew a seam. In our classes, the first two quilts students make are donated to local organizations. They can keep the third quilt, but many of our students give the third quilt to a loved one.

We invite you to learn more about Peggy in the full McMinnville News-Register article. You might also want to visit her website.