It started with a simple email from Emily Rowe, inquiring if I knew anyone in my area affected by Hurricane Fiona. She had received an email from a group of women in Langley, British Columbia, who wanted to send lap quilts to some residents who had been displaced and/or lost their homes on September 24th, 2022.
I live in Margaree – Fox Roost, which is a 10-minute drive from Port aux Basques. 4 homes and countless stages were destroyed here; it will forever change the layout of our communities. We also had 2 families that moved in from other areas who had also displaced.
Once Joy made contact, things happened quickly. The quilts arrived, and I immediately started to distribute them. Each person who received a quilt was overjoyed. Some people had left their home with not much more than the clothes on their backs, so to receive a warm quilt was a lovely gesture.
This is what Joy sent me about her group:
For several weeks in the spring, seven or eight women from St. Oswald’s gathered in the parish hall to cut and piece “I Spy” quilts. I was about to do a major downsizing, and that meant there was rather a lot of fabric to be used up! Two of us were quilters, and the others pressed and cut, pinned and hemmed. It was amazing what so many willing hands could accomplish! The first dozen quilts went to Ukrainian refugees in nearby Abbotsford. Then another batch went off to Kimz Angels, a church run ‘store’ in Langley where low income people can shop with dignity—and no actual money. Then: Newfoundland. We were more than delighted to find out that quilts would be welcome.
You can see some of the recipients in Newfoundland in the photographs with this article. I am happy to say that more quilts are on route to this area, and again will be distributed proudly.
I do know that some quilts were also sent to this part of the province from others in Newfoundland. We are moved by the kindness and generosity shown to us by such gifts.
