Piles of quilts are stacked up on a table in a room of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, where a dedicated group is working to keep people warm this winter.
What started roughly 20 years ago as a modest group that made quilts for sale at the church has grown into a group of 24 women who produce between 200 and 300 quilts each year. The quilters carry out their stitching every other Wednesday (and sometimes Saturdays and at home) and their handiwork is then distributed to those in need throughout the region.
The group’s founder, Marylou Wahl, said they donate the quilts to a number of organizations, including the City Rescue Mission in Albany. They also reach out to local hospitals and even to those in Schoharie County who lost everything during Tropical Storm Irene.
“In conjunction with a small friendship quilt group I have, we did quilts for the children at the Gilboa-Conesville School,” said Wahl. “There were 30 families left homeless, which involved 56 children.”
Wahl said the donations began years ago when they realized that there was a need for quilts throughout the community.
“Sometimes it gets a little overwhelming because there is such a great need,” said Wahl. “In fact this year, what we’ve done is since September, we’ve been meeting every Wednesday so that we could make sure that we would meet the needs.”
Kathy Riedel, a member of the group, pointed out that the donations go beyond the Capital District.
“We’ve sent a number of quilts overseas to the troops through people of the church that have sons or daughters or nephews in Iraq or Afghanistan,” said Riedel.
Wahl estimated that about 100 quilts would be distributed before the end of the year. Recipients will include patients at the children’s hospital at Albany Medical Center and those undergoing chemotherapy at St. Peter’s Hospital.
The group is able to function through monetary support from the church and donations, specifically from those who have benefited from the group’s work. The money helps the women purchase supplies which are tucked away in a small and overflowing closet of the church.
While the work is admirable, Wahl and Riedel both admit that the women get something valuable as well.
“It is definitely a ministry,” said Wahl “It’s not just a ministry of outreach to the community. It’s also a ministry to us within the group. It’s a real good support group for everybody.”
Riedel said it group provides everyone with a chance to talk and find out more about what’s going on in their lives.
“There’s such a disconnection out there with the Internet. Nobody is talking face to face anymore,” said Riedel.
Church pastor Mark Mueller joked that sometimes he feels like Santa Claus when he delivers the quilts and that all the elves are back at the workshop making the gifts.
“What a wonderful gift when people receive something so beautiful, handmade and artistic and to have that and bring that warmth to them whether they are getting chemotherapy, or had a house fire or if they’ve been flooded, giving table runners to the families that we give food to during the holidays,” said Mueller. “It touches lives. It is a wonderful thing that they do and they have fun doing it.”
For more information about the group, contact the Bethlehem Lutheran Church at 439-4328.
