At a recent meeting of Coffee Creek Quilters volunteers, Linda Downey showed the group an assortment of quilts recently completed by our students. In the classes, each student makes three quilts; two are donated to various nonprofits and students keep their third quilts.

Linda coordinates the distribution of quilts to community organizations for CCQ. Currently four groups receive quilts:
Bloomin’ Boutique – for kids in foster care
Community Warehouse – for neighbors overcoming adversity
Emanuel Medical Center – for patients needing comfort quilts
Good Samaritan Medical Center – for patients needing comfort quilts

Linda mentioned that we recently received a letter from Chaplain Aaron at Emanuel Medical Center thanking CCQ for the quilts. “It might seem a simple gesture,” he wrote. “But offering people a hand-made quilt often brings them so much comfort and helps them engage their grief and loss. The quilts add so much to their experience, and often are a gateway to good story telling and thinking through a person’s life.”

Chaplain Aaron shared several stories of people who were comforted by our students’ quilts. Here’s one: “Just last week I supported a child who was sadly losing his mother. The quilt we picked out together was deeply meaningful to him. I shared some about the quilters and how they made it with people like him in mind. He said ‘wow, people out there are thinking about me?’ and then asked an aunt if he could sleep with the quilt that night as a reminder of the way his mother’s love will always cover him.”