We recently sent our 1000th quilt to a person emigrating to the United States. The quilt was made by our Sacramento Crew. Think about it. 1000 quilts! Thank you for the energy, compassion and love that have produced each one of these quilts. No matter what your role — you are making a difference in the lives of our newest neighbors.
Join quilt activists from around the country at a free virtual program. Quilting for Social Justice: The Cutting Edge and Soft Power of Creative Activism will feature a panel of people who have made an impact in current social justice projects through quilting, including Gale Hall of Welcome Quilts, Gretchen Ginnerty of The Love Quilt Project, and India Aubry and Maggie Urgo of Voices from the Border. The session will be moderated by journalist Melissa del Bosque. The program will also tour the Arizona History Museum’s temporary exhibit Welcome Quilts: Migration, Art and Hope.
All friends of Bienvenidos Quilts are welcome! Secure your spot today!
Quilting for Social Justice: The Cutting Edge and Soft Power of Creative Activism
Live on Zoom
Thursday, March 7, 2024
1:30pm MST; 12:30 pm PST; 3:30pm EST
For details and a free ticket, follow this link.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
Bienvenidos Quilts 