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WYOMING — The quilts may have been ugly, but the cause is oh, so sweet.
The Women’s Association of the First United Presbyterian Church of West Pittston/Wyoming held their annual “Ugly Quilts” assembly in Wyoming on Sunday afternoon.
“The quilts are made of odds and ends and scraps, and the idea is for the quilts to be warm and comfortable but without any monetary value so no one steals them,” said Marge Rosa, the president of the Women’s Association.
Rosa organized the team of volunteers for this project, with over two dozen men and women taking up the cause and joining forces to assemble quilts for distribution to local homeless shelters, including Ruth’s Place in Wilkes-Barre.
The team put years of sewing and quilting experience to good use on Sunday, carrying on a long-tenured tradition that dates back to the church group’s original location in West Pittston.
After a light luncheon to, as it was put by the church’s Facebook page, “nourish our sewing fingers,” the group set to work, using donated materials to assemble the “ugly” quilts.
It’s a very intricate process, making a quilt. The expert quilters at the First United Presbyterian Church had their hands full all throughout the day, but ended up with a couple of mighty fine quilts that could also double as sleeping bags, and will no doubt be put to good use at the various shelters where the quilts will end up.
Sunday’s event is just one of a number of ways that the Women’s Association, under the careful guidance of Rosa, helps out the community.
“In October, we have a rummage sale,” said Women’s Association member Dottie Rodriguez. “We raise anywhere from $900-$1,100 and divvy it out to different shelters.”
While money isn’t the primary objective here with the ugly quilt drive, it certainly goes a long way toward making sure that some of the residents of Ruth’s Place and other shelters across Luzerne County could keep warm and safe, especially in the harsh winter months.
At the end of the three-hour work session, while the men and women didn’t end up with the most attractive quilt in the world, they had done more than enough to piece together something that they could all be proud of.
