Quilts that Care News - making quilts for cancer patients

Updates from Quilts that Care, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, as we continue to make quilts to comfort patients undergoing cancer treatments.

What’s new with our quilts? Our volunteers have been extremely busy this summer. Not only did we make 75 quilts during the month of June, we also hit a milestone of making 440 quilts this year!!! It’s the end of August and we have already surpassed the total of 430 quilts made in 2016. When we moved to our headquarters facility in Dec 2016, Mirya, our Operations Manager, set an aggressive goal of trying to make 50 quilts per month. While our new Headquarters provides volunteers with a central location for supplies, education, meetings, and storage, we do receive nearly half of our quilts from our satellite locations, Litchfield, Bristol, New Milford and Leever.

The more quilts we can make, the more comfort and warmth we can provide to people who really need that little.

We have over 200 volunteers right now, from many parts of Connecticut. They put their heart and soul into ironing, cutting, sewing, sandwiching, and stitching, to make these unique quilts with the hope to bring some joy to the recipient.

Monthly we donate about 40 quilts to 11 Connecticut cancer facilities, with additional quilts going out to known patients. However, in June we also made and donated an additional 15 quilts to The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for children. Right now, our volunteers are currently working on making 30 quilts to be donated this fall to our veterans undergoing cancer treatments.

How can you get involved? We have Open Sew every Saturday from 9am – 2pm, also the 2nd and 4th Monday of every month from 4:30-7pm. We continue to offer free classes at 130 Scott Rd. Our current list of classes is shown below. To register for classes, email us at QTCClasses@gmail.com. Remember, you do not have to sew to help!

Ongoing Block of the Month Every 2nd Monday 5-7pm

How to do a Binding Saturday Sept 16 Noon

Stack and Wack 4th Monday in August & Sept 5-7pm

Additional satellite location schedules are:

Harold Leever Cancer Center, Waterbury, CT 1st & 3rd Monday 6:30-8pm

Bristol Public Library, Bristol, CT, 1st & 3rd Tuesday 6:30-8pm

Litchfield Community Center, Litchfield, CT 1st & 3rd Wed 12:30-2pm

How can you see our quilts? The Village at East Farms (Second building) and The Harold Leever Cancer Center, two of Quilts that Care’s sponsors; currently have many of our quilts and veterans quilts on display in their lobbies. If you are in the area, stop by and take a look at them. We also have a couple on display in a store front window at 3528 East Main St, Waterbury.

What’s coming up? Our 5th annual fundraiser will be held at The Village at East Farms, 180 Scott Rd, Waterbury, Thursday, Oct 12, 2017 from 5-8pm. It is a fun night with music, food and cocktails.

In addition during this event, we will be recognizing Dr Nicole Sookhan, board-certified general surgeon specializing in all aspects of women’s breast health. Her practice, The Breast and Oncology Center of Prospect, is an affiliate of Saint Mary’s Hospital. She is Associate Program Director for Saint Mary’s Surgical Residency Training Program and serves as the Cancer Liaison Physician for the Saint Mary’s Hospital Cancer Committee.

If you are interested in being one of the sponsors of this important work or would like to come out to meet the volunteers of this organization, please contact us by emailing QTCContact@gmail.com . Tickets are $35 each and can be purchased at Harold Leever Cancer Center, The Village at East Farms, at our Headquarters, 130 Scott Rd, Waterbury, CT or call 860 782-1043.

How can you find out more? Like our FACEBOOK Page at www.facebook.com/QuiltsThatCare/ or email us at QTCContact@gmail.com