Dear Friends – I am still trying to get through all the emails and letters that you sent to us after the March 22 shooting. Here in Boulder we are all still processing what happened, still learning of people in our circles who were affected.
After the Sandy Hook shooting in December 2012, we were inundated with requests from our customers to organize some kind of response from the quilting community. As you may remember, we were discouraged from sending comfort quilts, so we worked with several quilt guilds around the country to organize memorial quilts. These quilts had the names and/or images of all the kids and teachers lost, and they were presented to the city officials to be distributed to community locations like City Hall and local churches.
I have been in touch with the Boulder Emergency Taskforce. (The same group we’ve worked with to support mask-making for front line workers last year, and then later to distribute quilts to the wildfire victims.) We have discussed collecting comfort quilts for the families who have lost loved ones in the event, but I also would like to put out a call for any quilt guilds or groups who might want to work on memorial quilts for the 10 victims, as we did for Newtown. We would want to present them on the one-year anniversary next year in March, at the very latest. If your group is interested, please contact me at eQuilter.
Today it was 80 degrees and sunny. Neighbors were all out in their yards, on their porches, and talking in the streets. The trees are budding out and the tulips will burst into bloom in the next week or so. As we celebrate Easter tomorrow, a holiday symbolic of rebirth and renewal, we have to keep choosing HOPE as we look to the future. I saw many people out walking today, silent, just taking in the blue skies and birdsong, and presumably pondering what it means to be alive and human in the Spring of 2021.
In these photo albums, you can see images of other comfort quilt projects we have organized over the years.
In a few months from now, we will reach a total of $1.8 million donated to non-profit organizations, and rest assured we are sending money to many different organizations who are focused on desperately needed relief in this age of Covid. Thank you for supporting our efforts to help those in need.
Whether you are celebrating Easter, or ending Passover this weekend, we wish you a peaceful and blessed holiday with loved ones.
with hope for the future,
Luana and Paul
