What We Do Is Reaching Out

I just wanted to share with you what the purpose of this blog is about so we are all on the same page so to speak.  I do not want to mislead anyone.

I set this blog up so we can reach out to 911 Dispatchers and their families, but we go beyond that and I wanted to say, we also reach out to police officers and fire fighter families and the public or victims affected by tragedies.

If you think you won't or can't make a difference with one quilt, or you think someone else will step in so you can wait until 'next time,' or you have to much time in any quilt to give them away, I say you can make a difference.

Here is a post from 911 Cares 5 years after Hurricane Katrina and while I wasn't there physically in body, I was in another way:

'Along life’s way, you meet some extraordinary

people. Some make you smile, others weep and

some take your breath away. 

Jean does a little of each. Jean has retired since Katrina but she will always be a dispatcher at heart. She asked us to connect her with people that had lost everything. She would then call that individual or family and ask for their favorite colors. Jean and her nimble fingers then made god knows how many quilts. She would ensure their delivery and start on the next one. Amidst loss and mud, she brought some sense of normality and comfort to so many.' 

Since then, I made quilts for the entire Virginia Tech team after the shooting there, Broome County New York got quilts for their children, a dispatcher in California with cancer got one to keep her warm during chemo, a dispatcher in Washington state received one while recovering from a major accident, many dispatchers children's have received them from preemies to very ill children.

I sometimes receive cards and pictures back and sometimes I never hear back at all, it is to be expected at times like this, times when people have no homes, they are watching a loved one dying or perhaps they are ill themselves.  You give because you care, not because you want recognition.

That is what all these emergency responders have in common, they go to work everyday and do their job at times when most of us would walk off the job to check on our homes or families.

I have several books of the quilts I have made and sent and several more I forgot to take pictures of.  I have thank you cards, pictures and these I will leave for my family, my great grandchildren someday to see that I made a difference.

There are so many of you that made a difference during Aurora and here are a few of the pictures of quilts that were made:

Debbie Burns

Pat Chubb - Former 911

Marilyn from North Hills Quilters

 

 

 

 What was so amazing to me was how many quilts so many of you made and then when Newtown hit, well many quilters jumped in and wanted to help before we even knew anything!

I can't make 1, 3, 6 or even 10 quilts in a week like I used to, suffering from Fibromyalgia, Arthritis and Silent Migraines as of late, I make about 1 a month maybe 2 if I am using a panel I can make a few if my hands hold up.  But together, together we made quilts for the entire Aurora and Newtown dispatch centers plus survivors of the Aurora tragedy.

Together, we can make a difference and that is what Layers oHope is about. We are but one layer in the healing process, we make quilts while others provide counseling, building supplies, shoe boxes of things needed during a disaster.

If you want to be a part of this outreach effort, please follow me here and let me know and when we have a need, we will get in touch with you.

This is but just one layer in the process.  I am working on a second layer and hope to have it up and running soon. Keep ya'all posted!