INTERLOCHEN -- Squares of brightly colored fabric were lovingly stitched to create classic quilt patterns when dozens of volunteers worked together Saturday during the Helping Hands Quilting Marathon to benefit local women diagnosed with breast cancer.
Tawni Gilmer, owner of the Interquilten quilt shop in Interlochen, organized the local event as part of a day of marathon quilting sponsored by Quilters Against Cancer. The nonprofit organization, established to financially help women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and do not have health insurance, also sponsored events in Newaygo and Montague.
"When I heard about the Helping Hands marathon, I thought that this is a social mission I would like my shop to be part of," said Gilmer, who approached members of the local quilting guild, Rumpled Quilts Kin, for their participation.
Volunteers, including many from the guild and other local quilting groups, spent 12 hours cutting, piecing, stitching and binding nine quilts that will be auctioned or raffled along with other donated quilts. The profits received go back to the county from which the quilt came to be distributed to breast cancer survivors and their families through programs of Women's Health Services and county health departments.
"It seems that everyone knows someone who has been touched by cancer," said Gilmer, who was thrilled with the number of volunteers who, like Linda Porter of Buckley, gave a few hours of their time and talent.
Porter, a member of a small quilting group at her local church, said that as a registered nurse she has seen the devastating effects of breast cancer, not only on the one diagnosed, but to their loved ones as well.
"I think these quilts are a gift that we can give, a gift from the heart," Porter said.
For more information on Quilters Against Cancer, visit www.quiltersagainstcancer.com.
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