Members of our About Quilting Forum were among those who geared up to help with relief efforts. Some members are from areas at risk to hurricanes, including people in hurricane ravaged areas of Florida, but quilters all across the country stitched quilts for people who lost their homes.
Katrina quilts are truly a gift from the heart. Many quilts became the only item some children and adults could truly call their own. The quilts provided warmth, beauty and a little continuity for people who were sometimes forced to shuffle from place to place in search of a temporary or permanent home.
Church groups organized quiltmaking drives. Individuals pitched in. Online quilters banded together to motivate each other and offer quiltmaking inspiration and instructions for beginners who wanted to join the effort.
Quilting Guilds helped out too. The Arizona Quilters' Guild is one group that donated over 300 quilts to hurricane Katrina survivors. Middle schoolers in Berne, New York, made twenty-eight quilts. You'll find similar examples all over the US and they resulted in thousands of quilts mailed to our southern states.
The quilters kept galleries as they worked and some photos are online. Katrinaquilts includes quilts made by our quilting forum members. The Red Cross Web site has a photo essay of some quilts made for hurricane victims.
When another disaster affects us there's one thing you can be sure of. Quilters will step in again to help others in need. But you'll find them making quilts for lots of other causes too--for cancer patients, for abused children, for homeless shelters and others. If there's a need, quilters step in. They truly are one of the most caring groups in our socieity.
