Sweet Home Quilt Co. sponsored two charity events during the Thanksgiving holidays, and I am happy to report that once again, our faithful and giving customers came through in a BIG way!
We recently partnered with ConKerr Cancer to make pillowcases for sick children, and to serve as a drop-off site for other individual and group participants. I knew there were lots of people interested in this cause since I’d been getting inquiries for a while. So I put the word out that SHQC would provide pillowcase kits for a $5.00 tax-deductible contribution, and I scheduled our first Pillowcase Stitch-in for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I set a goal to collect 150 pillowcases even though I had a number of nay-sayers who thought that goal was too lofty; I was determined though (I’m stubborn that way!)
Donna and Nancy brought in 94 pillowcases made by the Crossroads Quilters at Crossroads UMC here in Conyers. Wooo Hooo! We were on our way!
We had a number of individuals who couldn’t attend the stitch-in but came by and purchased kits to make on their own time. And we had 8 ladies come to the stitch-in on Saturday after Thanksgiving, where we added another 41 pillowcases to our count!
Page, Ruthanne, Jane and Frances are shown here with some of the pillowcases completed at the stitch-in. Nancy, Dee and Anne had already left by the time I remembered to drag out the camera!
I took home 47 pillowcases to wash and iron over the weekend. Ordinarily, ironing is not a favorite past-time for me, but in this case, I enjoyed each pillowcase so much that it really wasn’t a chore. I could just see the delight in each child’s eyes when they received a bright, fun pillowcase to add a little cheer to their hospital stay.
Our final tally for the event was … drumroll, please … 163 pillowcases!!! My heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated in this event. We’ll be scheduling regular Pillowcase Stitch-ins in 2010 for this ongoing effort.
In years past, we’ve sponsored food drives and toy drives as a charitable event, but this year I wanted to do something different. I remembered reading last year about another shop that sponsored a Panty Raid Weekend to collect new packages of womens and childrens underwear to donate to a local shelter. I contacted the battered women’s shelter here to run the idea by the Director, and she was thrilled with the idea. So once again, I designated the weekend after Thanksgiving as ‘Panty Raid Weekend’ at SHQC, and put the word out to our faithful customers.
The response was overwhelming! We’ve even gotten donations from within the community – people who are not quilters, but heard about our effort from a quilter and wanted to participate.
Today, I’ll be meeting up with the Director of the battered women’s shelter to deliver … are you ready? Fifty-four packages (317 pair!!!) of new women’s and children’s underwear!!! Holey Moley! Needless to say, the shelter administration was thrilled when I called and so appreciative of the effort.
I am a firm believer in giving back to the communities who support Sweet Home Quilt Co., and so appreciative of the giving nature of our customers. I know that I can always count on you to come through with flying colors for our charitable efforts! Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to you!
Oh, I almost forgot! Congratulations to Penny who won the Panty Raid gift basket. Penny is a new quilter and she was very excited to have won the goodies!
