Members of the Cactus Rose Quilters Guild made and donated nearly 200 quilted Christmas placemats to the Meals on Wheels program to be delivered to clients with their meals during the coming Holiday Season. Individuals from both groups gathered last week to commemorate the donation. Pictured from left are Brenda Kromrey, Laura Kroeker, Megan Roberston, Cori Fischer (director of the Veiner Centre), Nicole Walcer (Meals on Wheels co-ordinator), Joyce Walcer, Mary Mushens and Karen Carter.--NEWS PHOTO BY LAUREN THOMSON
lthomson@medicinehatnews.com
The Cactus Rose Quilters Guild continues to serve the community of Medicine Hat through a passion for quilting, creating and caring. In partnership with Meals on Wheels, the group is donating nearly 200 hand-quilted placemats during the upcoming Holiday Season.
The group, which had a membership of more than 80 individuals before COVID hit, is currently about 50.
“We’re slowly starting to come back,” said Joyce Walcer, member for about 13 years. “We’re busy trying to get quilts made. Well, we haven’t stopped making quilts.”
The group has worked on the ‘comfort quilts’ project for years.
“For the comfort quilts part of it, the fabric is donated from people and then we get together every second Wednesday, all day at the Kinplex,” said Walcer. “We get patterns and make up kits and then people take them and sew them. It’s all volunteer. Then we donate these quilts to lots of different places; fire victims, to teen moms, food bank, to the Ronald McDonald house; wherever there’s a need.”
Placemats for Meals on Wheels is a new project, moved along by Walcer, who is a volunteer meal delivery driver for the organization.
“We had all this Christmas fabric that was donated and a few years ago we made 180 Christmas stockings for the food bank,” explained Walcer. “This year we cut out all the Christmas fabric and made up little kits and people took them home and sewed them. We have close to 200 placemats for the Meals on Wheels program.”
Nicole Walcer, Meals on Wheels co-ordinator, is grateful for the effort.
“Cactus Rose Quilters Guild has generously donated these quilted placemats for all of the clients of Meals on Wheels, so there is around 200 placemats that they’ve made which is fantastic.”
Nicole thinks clients will love the gift.
“I know that the clients will definitely love it because even last week they all got a flower because of Random Acts of Kindness Week through Canadian Mental Health and I’m still getting phone calls about that,” Nicole said.
Nicole said most clients for Meals on Wheels live alone and appreciate seeing their meal delivery driver.
“We’re super thankful that (the guild) did this for us and for the clients,” said Nicole. “I know that they will really appreciate it.”
Karen Carter, another quilter from Cactus Rose, says the placemats pattern was simple so even new quilters were able to participate.
“We hope they enjoy them and feel that it’s a bit of a Christmas present,” said Carter. “We hope they like getting a small special thing with their meal.”
Walcer noted that the Meals on Wheels program is looking for more volunteers to help make delivery routes smaller. You can contact the Veiner Centre for ways to help out.
