Author: Bienvenidos Quilts

Which Quilt?

Giving Quilts

Which quilt will a child choose? It’s sometimes a surprise but always a delight to see. Often, we receive photos of children with their quilts. Unfortunately, we cannot share photos that identify specific children. We must keep them off the internet. Many of the migrants are trying to escape gangs, traffickers, drug cartels, etc. Facial recognition software makes it easy for these nasty characters to track down people. We respect the necessity for this pictorial silence. Occasionally, however, photos come to us that can be shared because neither the face nor any other identifying characteristics are shown. Here’s one of our favorites, sent to us by Susan Rogers when she delivered two large duffel bags filled with quilts to a shelter.

Quilt Blessing

Behind the Scenes, Giving Quilts

On February 26, 2023, First Congregational UCC dedicated around 40 quilts before they were sent to shelters at the Mexican border. The Bienvenidos Quilts workshop is located at the church in downtown Portland, Oregon.

Rev. Brigitta Remole’s words of blessing: Gracious God, maker of all things. You have blessed us with so many gifts: a good eye for color; the ability to make fine stitches; the skills to develop ever new and beautiful patterns. Today we dedicate the fruits of this labor, these quilts, we dedicate them to your service, trusting that your love will go wherever each quilt is sent. Making it more than just a piece of material, a collection, making each piece we have created an expression of love. There is no way for us to imagine the power and effect an act of love can have on a person’s life. How you can use something as small as a quilt to radiate your love from us to the world. May these quilts be used in your service and become blessings for all those who receive them. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Special Deliveries

Giving Quilts

We count our blessings when someone offers to bring quilts to the Arizona border area for us. It costs approximately $100 to ship 20 quilts, so special personal deliveries save us money. They also help to make direct connections. In 2022, Bruce and Judy Bishop delivered lots of quilts to the Green Valley Samaritans in January. A batch went to Casa Alitas in April with Hannah Swan. Susan Rogers and her daughter brought a double batch to Casa Alitas in October.

Playful Children

Giving Quilts

Over 400 quilts have been sent to the southern border. About half of these have gone to Casa Alitas in Tucson, Arizona. The other half have gone to Green Valley Samaritans who deliver the quilts to smaller shelters, including Casa de la Misericordia in Nogales, Mexico, where people wait to be allowed to cross into the US for their scheduled hearings. 

Rita Danks is one of the women who bring quilts to the border, working with Samaritans of Green Valley, Voices from the Border from Patagonia, Mexico and Grupo Beta, the Mexican Government agency that assists migrants. She tells us: “Some of your gorgeous quilts were delivered directly to the migrant children. I let them pick the ones they liked. They were so happy! They were wearing them on their heads and they were running around. (Keep in mind it was 98 degrees, but that didn’t stop them.) They were just super excited! I wanted to let you know what a difference you and all your helpers have made in the lives of so many little children who arrive at the Nogales, Mexico border, homeless with hardly any possessions and total desperation.”  

Maker/Giver

Making Quilts

Pete Levins is one of the most prolific of all our quilters. Every few weeks, his cousin, Ruth, a member of our First Crew, brings a package with Pete’s most recent batch. We love the precision, creativity and joy in every quilt. We are especially happy about his focus on making quilts for boys.  

Pete also sent us three larger quilts for fundraising purposes. His beautiful rainbow quilt hangs behind the altar of First Congregational UCC in Portland, Oregon (home to Bienvenidos Quilts). An anonymous donor made it possible for the Bienvenidos First Crew to donate the quilt to First Congregational in honor of the vast range of contributions that folks in the LGBTQ community give to First Congregational. Pete visited First Congregational in July 2022 for the dedication of the quilt in conjunction with one of our quilt displays.

Altogether, the quilts that Pete made added $1,300 to the Bienvenidos Quilts account. We use these funds primarily for shipping quilts to Arizona. 

Keeping Track

Behind the Scenes

Bienvenidos Quilts is more than sewing. Keeping track of all the quilts, over 400 so far, can be a tad challenging. When we began the project, we used pieces of paper attached to each quilt to track their status. These were put into binders when the quilts left our hands. Christina Hellums, a member of First Crew, has now developed a spreadsheet so we can keep track of quilts more coherently. Eventually, she will be able to merge photographs of the quilts with the data in the spreadsheet. 

Teen Quilts

Giving Quilts, Making Quilts

Most quiltmakers think of the children receiving their quilts as babies, toddlers and little kids. With this is mind, they make bright, colorful quilts that measure around 40 x 40 inches. These quilts are fantastic and loved.

Keep in mind, however, that most of the people classified as children by the US government are actually adolescents, up to 17 years old. In 2022, Casa Alitas, a large shelter in Tucson, requested that we also make larger quilts in subtler colors. These quilts – measuring around 40 x 60 inches — are especially suited for adolescents. Almost every day, more than 300 immigrants arrive at Casa Alitas. The shelters along the border can use every quilt we send – for small children or teens and their families.