With fabric and thread, women at Bluffs Trinity Lutheran Church are bringing warmth to people in tough situations.
About a dozen women gather monthly to make quilts for those in need. Quilts are distributed throughout Fremont to the Low Income Ministry, Care Corps, Crisis Center for Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault and Jefferson House.
“We also send them to Lutheran World Relief and they send them all over the world -- wherever there’s been a disaster or a need,” said Margie Porter, service chairman.On Sunday, the women will have a thank offering service and blessing of the items during the worship service which starts at 10:30 a.m. in the church northwest of Fremont.
This year, the women have made 142 full-size quilts and six baby quilts.
This isn’t a new project.
“We’ve been doing this for years,” said Fremonter Elaine Brand.
Indeed, since 1972, the church women have made 2,458 quilts.
When they gather, the women work in an assembly line fashion to assemble the quilts.
Some women have already cut quilt blocks and sewn the tops at home. At church, the women tie the tops, middles and backs of quilts together. One woman takes the quilts home and hems around the outside of each one.
Some women also sort and measure fabric while at the church. Several women lay out fabric blocks in a pattern for others to take home and sew to make the quilt tops.
“It’s amazing how we can get low on material and when we come to quilting day, here sits boxes of material. A lot of times, we don’t even know where it comes from,” Brand said.
Women said they enjoy gathering to make quilts and that fellowship is one of the best parts of the project.
“It’s great to get together,” Porter said.
But the women also enjoy the opportunity to help others.
“It gives us a good feeling to know that we’re helping those in need,” Porter said.
Besides the quilts, the women also assemble school kits with supplies such as pencils, crayons and scissors; sewing kits, with materials to help those wanting to learn how to sew; and health kits, which contain items such as soap, a wash cloth, towel, comb and a toothbrush.
In the past, for example, health kits were distributed through LWR after Hurricane Katrina, Porter said.
The women also make layettes which have items such as diapers, shirts, sleepers, a blanket, soap, wash cloth and a sweater which LWR provides for people who don’t have anything in which to take their newborn baby home from the hospital.
Recently, the colorful quilts adorned pews in the church with kits placed at the front of the sanctuary.
A church member will take the items on the week of Nov. 9 to an Omaha trucking firm. From there items transported to a LWR warehouse in Minneapolis for distribution.