A Letter from Linda... (December 2005)


It seems like only yesterday that I discovered a wealth of discontinued fabric being thrown away. In those days it never occurred to me that we'd be an international organization 5 years later. I was only looking to save some fabric samples from landfill. I was assured by all my friends and family that this was a dumb idea and no one would make quilts for some stranger’s child...and do it for free! Well, in only 5 years you have managed to prove these naysayer's wrong....for you have given from your heart and helped to turn tears to smiles for OVER 30,000 children that you never even knew existed.

I am always amazed at the kindness of quilters...
You have all embraced me as your family and, even though many of you have never met me, you have lifted my spirits and encouraged me to continue. Even when I was worried that I could not possibly lead an organization, you told me all I had to do was tell people about us...not worry about leadership skills that I felt lacking of. You were right. From August 2000 to December 2005, over a million pounds of fabric once destined for landfill found a new life.

  • Lightweight cottons were turned into quilts that comforted children in need globally.
  • Brocades and upholstery-weight fabrics were made into wheelchair bags, saddlebags that hang over the hospital bed rails and hold treasures like crayons and coloring books, journals and even pillows.
  • Velvets became soft teddy bears.
  • Wool by the bolt went to the homeless with the hope that they'd be kept warmer just wrapping themselves in the fabric.

You have had to become creative in figuring out what to do with the heavy fabrics that come our way...promising not to throw any of it back into landfill. Through our partnership with Lutheran World Relief, many of the heavyweight fabrics became heavy blankets that were sent overseas to children in Third World countries who were using them to sleep on as they have no bed.

  • 2005 saw quilts going to AIDS orphanages in South Africa, Romania and the Ukraine. In a dark warehouse of cribs filled with sick children, your quilts were what brought light and love into these places.
  • In December 2004, children in Israel who have experienced the battles of a divided land firsthand were gifted quilts.
  • When a news program ran a story of 7 children who were eating insulation because they were being starved, 7 quilts went out immediately...each child wrapped in your love and kindness by the New Jersey Child Advocate.
  • When one of our wonderful volunteers, Gail Bills of Kansas, questioned what Quilts for Kids "really" did with those quilts she sent...she turned on the TV to CBS "Sunday Morning" and listened to the story of a young boy who had been burned over much of his body. The anchorman told of his fight to regain his health, how he had been unable to have clothing come in contact with his skin and was confined to bed until the new skin regenerated. Today was his first day sitting up in a chair. He was wearing pajamas for the first time in over a year. The camera panned from the chair this brave little boy sat in to the bed...where much to her surprise Gail saw her quilt. She shared with me that she screamed for her daughter and felt touched to know that the quilt she made had truly comforted this little boy. She saw firsthand the difference you make in the lives of these children.
  • 2005 KATRINA RELIEF - With your help we gifted over 1,600 quilts to children who were evacuated from the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina.
  • Broadway Katrina event at Gershwin theatre brings Ben Vereen, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters and other stars together to raise awareness and funds for helping victims of that hurricane. Quilts For Kids and America's Second Harvest are the two charities entrusted to bring help to those in need.
  • $70,000 worth of children's clothing, shoes & backpacks were gifted to these children
  • Ralph Lauren and WestPoint Home, Pine Cone Hill and Chandler Collection enabled us to bring bedding, towels and other much needed supplies to families of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma
  • YOU, our wonderful volunteers and school children enabled us to ship shampoo,deodorant,soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste,Band-Aids and other supplies to these families.
  • 2005 saw us deliver quilts to children in the Johannesburg, S. Africa AIDS orphanages.
  • TSUNAMI relief - We pooled our funds and through Rotary International sent money so that those children in need of supplies could get them.
  • 2005 saw our first ever Capitol Campaign mailer. We are hopeful that it will be a successful one.

Over 50 sister chapters are now working hard at making quilts for their local community of children. I have had the great honor of meeting with many of you this year. Linking design centers worldwide with their communities continues to be my mission. My hope for 2005 was that we grow stronger and serve many more children in need of comfort. A quilt seems like such a small thing, but to a child fighting a life battle it is huge. We have accomplished that goal and have added many new hospitals and shelters to our ever growing list of places we donate to.

My hope for 2006 to create an Intergenerational facility...I hope that one day SOON we will have a permanent facility...a distribution center where seniors and teens can come and work in an after school program, making and delivering quilts. Where children and their parents and grandparents might learn a new hobby and at the same time help a child in need. A place where Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts might feel welcome and wish to earn a badge or two while putting fabric away or making a quilt or journal....

In the year ahead we have much to be thankful for. Several fabric companies have created a line of fabric that can be sold with proceeds going to Quilts for Kids. We have partnered with Kravet, Sina Pearson Designs and Crypton and items using our fabric are being created and sold in order to help us meet our budget.

I am often asked - what is it that we really need or want. Well if I had a magic wand I'd wish for world peace - no wand- so I will ask for my usual wish list:

Cotton fabric, gift certificates to places like Joann Fabric so we can replenish our supply of rotary blades, cutters, mats and fabrics and low loft 1/4 inch batting (when we run low we have to purchase fabric) and money for SHIPPING, which has almost tripled in the past 2 years.

Oh Yes, how can I forget...funding for a home...a larger place to move to as we have outgrown our space.

I have so much to be thankful for. Mostly I am thankful for the difference that all of you have made in my life. I look forward to what 2006 has to offer.

Linda Arye
Founding President
Quilts for Kids, Inc.
11 Effingham Road
Yardley,Pa. 19067
(215) 295-5484
www.quiltsforkids.org
Quiltsforkids@snip.net