It’s Fun To Sew For The ASYMCA!

Something I have done for many years now, is volunteer my time and sewing skills to the Camp Pendleton ASYMCA, The Armed Services YMCA. They have a program called Operation Kid Comfort. What this service does is provides quilts to military children of deployed, active duty, service men and women.

Volunteers make small quilts which feature photos that have been printed onto fabric. These pictures are of the child and their parent who is being deployed. The idea is that they will help children cope with the stress of being separated from a parent during deployment.

I first heard about this from a bulletin board at a JoAnn Fabric store. There was a flyer up that briefly explained the program, and that quilters were needed. I got the information, and emailed Camp Pendleton ASYMCA, and the rest is history. They email and ask if I’m available to make a quilt, I always say yes, and they send the fabric pictures to me. Along with it is the child’s color preference. I get to work and get them made within a couple of days, and ship them back to Camp Pendleton.

There are some rules however. They did do a quick background check on me, and I had to agree not to share the pictures of the children and military personnel on social media. Easy enough.

There were also rules for what the quilt should look like. I was sent the measurements to ensure that every child is getting the same quilt pattern.

The center of the quilt is where the pictures go. Here’s one I recently was asked to make. The center is made up of the fabric photos and squares of colored fabric. This child liked pink.

Sewing up the strips on the side of the quilt. It goes really fast. I can usually make one in about two hours. When I get one to make I push aside whatever other sewing project I might have going and do it right away. Camp Pendleton allows up to a month to get it made, but I choose to do it immediately.

Sides sewn on and getting ready to sew the last of it together.

I use cotton batting for the inside, instead of poly fiber. I backed the quilt with the same fabric that is on the front. It’s ready to go back to Camp Pendleton!

Last year I hit a “Volunteer Milestone”.

All of this sewing reminds me of the sewing effort that went into WWII. How women at home were asked to step up and do their parts to help the troops.

This is another very familiar WWII poster.

Here I am by a replica when I visited the “Rosie the Riveter” museum. (See previous blog post, “We Can Do It”)

People were willing to pitch in and make a difference back then, what about today? It’s not much, sewing little quilts for children, but it is what I can do to maybe make a difference in someone else’s life. Maybe you can’t sew, or maybe you can, but I would challenge each of my readers to look around and see where you can make a small difference. Sometimes it’s as simple as giving someone a smile, or putting your grocery cart back when you’re done using it.

How can you make a difference? Get in the conversation and feel free to comment here or on my sewingwithgrandma.com Facebook page.

Little acts of kindness add up, so let’s try to make the world a little better and kinder!

As for me, onto the next!