Please Let Me Know

I have noticed that each time a need goes up for quilts, many times I get the same quilters to respond and I do my best to contact everyone via their blogs or Email addresses I have for them.

I have begun the process of taking Emails I receive from those of you who have made quilts in the past or are currently making quilts and putting in a separate Email file so I know who has responded in kind.

What I would like however is for those that do not want to participate in quilting for others, to please send me an Email or leave me a comment here so I can remove you from the list and stop bothering you.

If perhaps you may be interested in helping sometime down the road, then please respond and let me know that as well and I will put you on the list with a note letting me know you would be willing to help in the future.

You see, Layers of Hope - Quilting 911 isn't just about making quilts for mass tragedies even though lately it appears that way with all the disasters and tragedies that have happened. 

We are about making quilts for police/fire dispatchers those first responders who everyday in spite of their own circumstances reach out with a calm voice on the phone in your emergency situations.

It is my hope, my goal to be able to make and collect quilts and have them ready to go in an instant on their way when I am notified there has been a dispatcher whose home burned to the ground, whose home flooded, who moved quickly in the middle of the night due to domestic violence and yes, those whose homes were lost in disasters as well as those whose voices were the calm in the midst of a storm.

I want to be able to grab a quilt off the shelf, put it in a box, add a few needed items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, baby wipes, dental floss, shampoo (wet or dry), bug repellent, some snacks, flashlight, etc..

I know many of you are so multi-talented and can knit and crochet, I would love to include mittens in the winter, or a scarf, perhaps a simple pair of slippers.

I can't do this alone, however there are many of you who have shown me together with our hands and our hearts, we can make this happen, we can show these men and women, we care.

Many of you do not know the ugly side of telecommunications and that is, while many police and fire agencies have funding to help them in times of illness, injury or even death, many dispatchers have nothing.

While they may work for a local agency, a county agency and work closely with police and fire, many do not get the same benefits that the others get and then there is the real tragic and ugly side that we have seen coming out of Prescott lately over the firefighters.

When did you see a concert put on for the Newtown or Aurora police and fire dispatchers or the dispatchers from Boston? No, they weren't out in the line of fire, but trust me when I say they are affected by these things just as much as those on scene are, because they are truly the first responders.

They are the ones who answer that first call...'911 what is your emergency.'  They are the ones that listen to the screams, the terror and tears in the callers voices, they hear the gun shots, they hear and feel the fear and they are affected and yet, they are many times ignored.

I want to just have us reach out to these men and women and say, we care about you, we want you to know we acknowledge the job you are doing and we want to warm your heart.

As of this writing, we still need 23 quilts for the Granite Mountain Hot Shot families and while we see all the money being generated for them, let me tell you in the thank you notes we have received, these quilts are making a difference!

There are also many dispatchers right now who lost their homes to fire, everything gone. Dispatchers going through Chemo treatment that could use a quilt to keep them warm, dispatchers children and spouses going through chemo.

I am only one person, but together, I have seen what we can do.
All I am asking is for you to please let me know if you can help someone in the future.

If not, can you at least commit to praying for the needs of these people?