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CCQ donates quilts to Community Warehouse

Community WarehouseCCQ donated 20 quilts to Community Warehouse this month. All of the quilts were made by women incarcerated at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville. Each student in our program makes three quilts. Two are donated to organizations like Community Warehouse,
Good Samaritan Hospital, Camp Erin, and others. Students keep their third quilts or give them to loved ones.

Community Warehouse is a Portland-based “furniture warehouse” that helps families become self-sufficient by providing them with basic household furnishings. In the picture at left CCQ President Linda Downey is showing some of the donated quilts along with three Community Warehouse volunteers. When he sent us the picture, CW’s Jeremy said: “We can’t thank you enough for your donation and what these quilts will mean to our families. This donation adds that extra layer of comfort to families trying to make a new space, a home.”

You can learn more about Community Warehouse at their website.

CCQ donates quilts to camps for kids

Zack's quiltEight year old Zack’s quilt (to his right in the picture) was one of 45 submitted for the annual Coffee Creek Quilters challenge on June 4th. Zack participated along with his grandmother, our own Judy Dunham.

In past years all challenge quilts have been donated to Camp Erin, a summer camp for kids who have experienced bereavement. This year we also donated to Camp Sunrise, a project of Hospice of Redmond. Another change this year was to give quilts made by students in our prison quilting program along with instructor-made quilts. A total of fifty-six quilts were donated to the two camps.

“Providing quilts to bereaved children has been a long term commitment for Coffee Creek Quilters instructors. The students voted that they would like to contribute also so this year is the first time student quilts have been donated to bereaved children. It is exciting to expand our outreach to Central Oregon especially since the students come from all over the state,” said CCQ President Linda Downey.

Camp Erin is a national program where young people learn to grieve and heal following the death of a loved one. Funded by the Moyer Foundation and local groups, camps are held in 45 locations in the U.S. and Canada. The camp is free for kids aged 6 to 17. Oregon’s Camp Erin is administered by the Providence Foundation and takes place this year at Camp Kuratli in Boring, OR, August 12-14.

Camp Sunrise is offered to kids ages 7-14 residing in Central Oregon who have experienced the loss of a loved one. Structured games, music, art, stories, and other therapies teach bereaved campers about grief and how to understand their feelings. The camp is open to up to 40 kids each year who reside in Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties and is offered at no charge. The three-day, two-night camp is held the third weekend of June.

Meet our volunteers: Mary Ann McCammon

Mary Ann McCammonMary Ann McCammon teaches quilting to women in three countries.

She’s taught in the CCQ Thursday class for the past eleven years. Her impressive quilting skills and gentle humor have empowered dozens of women incarcerated at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.

Mary Ann also makes an annual trip to Yelapa, Mexico where she teaches local women to make small landscape art quilts that they sell to tourists. One student, Evelia, has been so successful that she’s sending her kids to college with the proceeds of her quilting business. Her daughter will start college this fall and her son will complete his senior year in engineering.

Last year Mary Ann began teaching quilting to women recovering from obstetric fistula surgery in Eldoret, Kenya. She works with a small non-profit, Beyond Fistula that supports women after surgery to reintegrate with their families and gain financial independence. The goal is for women to earn an income with their quilting. Mary Ann’s own art quilts and quilts made by her students in Kenya are featured in an on-line art show about obstetric fistula.