November 8, 2008

• Quilting Hope

  Over the past several weeks there have been a lot of newcomers to my blog.  (Thank you Xanga Featured)  I really don't know how many because I've stopped looking to see how many subscribers I have, except I looked this morning and there are about 100 more than the last time I checked.

  So, many of you don't know about my quilting habits. 

  I work with a group of other women, headed up by Miss Eva, who call themselves the B.A.G. ladies.  We make child-sized quilts and then with matching fabric we make a bag, about the size of a carry-on bag or a backpack.  The quilt gets rolled up and placed inside the bag.  In the outside pocket we put toys, books, crayons ... whatever fits with the bag's fabric. 

  The bags are then distributed to children in foster care through different non-profit agencies.  We just delivered our 4th quarter bags, 48 total this time.  I was privileged on Thursday to deliver 24 of them to the Peanut Butter and Jelly agency in Albuquerque's South Valley. 

  If I ever do manage to scrape together enough savings to make a down payment on a house, my prayer is that I will be able to afford one with a bedroom that I can use to house a foster child or two, but until then, this is what I do.  I'm passionate about it because I've seen what the lives of kids in foster care can be.  It's a brutal system.  Kids get yanked in and out of homes until they develop the kind of walls that prevent them forming attachments or having healthy relationships for the whole rest of their lives.  And when they get yanked, often their meager belongings and gathered into a trash bag. 

  I'm convinced that "the medium is the message" and I think the message we are sending when we reach for the Hefty bag is "you and everything about you is trash".  That's a huge hurdle to overcome. 

  The bag that the B.A.G. ladies make isn't big enough to hold all that the child might have.  But it's new, it's bright, and it comes with a tag that says, "I made this for you because you are special."  The child can store his or her treasures in the bag, and when its time to move, that's the bag that never gets left behind. 

  One of the B.A.G. ladies attended a meeting with a woman who works as a child advocate in the courts here.  This woman was describing her work and then after telling stories that would chill your blood, segued into, "There is one thing I see that I have to mention though,  I don't know who is doing this, but some of the kids who come through the court have these bags ... They are beautifully made, and obviously the kids' most precious possession.  Someone has to be distributing them to these kids, but I don't know who it is or where to get them.  I wish all the kids could have something like that."

  Of course, our member was able to tell her exactly where the bags come from and something of the story of the (mostly) women who constitute our group.  I say mostly because although I don't think we have any men actually sewing, we have men who contribute money, they cut the sheets of stuff we use to make a "base" for the bags to give them sturdiness, and they buy and donate quantities of toys and books.

  The one question I had when I made the delivery to PB&J on Thursday was "are you getting a stockpile?  Is is hard for you to dispense these bags?  Do you have demand for them?"  The director said, "Oh, we are far from a stockpile.  The last batch went quickly, and I've been looking forward to seeing the new ones."

  Before I took the bags to PB&J, I took a few in to my office to show off to some of my co-workers.  I wasn't showing them off to brag about what *I* was doing, I was showing them what had been done with their contributions.  Some had given me fabric, others had given me toys, and one had given me a check to help buy quilt batting.  None of them had ever heard of the B.A.G. project before I started working there last July.  But when I made that delivery on Thursday, six more people had been stitched into the fabric of our group.  That's the kind of quilt that can only be made of qualities like hope, compassion, and sacrifice.  That's a quilt I'm really proud to have helped stitch.

  If you'd like to contribute to this project, your donation would be more than welcome.  We always have need of fabrics, toys, quilt batting and the like.  You could contact me if you'd like to give to these children who have so little and need so much.

  I would encourage you though to think about what you can do where you are.  If you aren't interested in starting something as ambitious as the B.A.G. project, call your local United Way and ask questions about what agencies are doing in your area and see what need you can fill. 

  You are needed to bring HOPE into the life of someone who has less than their share. 

   

   

  • 1:28 pm
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