Crossroads for Women received a call the other day from the president of a local quilters guild in Standish, Maine. She had 14 beautifully handmade pillowcases that she wanted to donate to our halfway house. Since Crossroads maintains two 24-hour residential substance abuse treatment facilities for women, we are always in need of bed linens.
The inspiration for the donation was pretty cool. It was part of a 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge from American Patchwork & Quilting. According to the website, the simple idea is to make and donate pillowcases to local charities in your community. As I write this, there have been 234,627 pillowcases donated so far.
In addition to Crossroads for Women, the local quilters guild also donated pillowcases to other women’s residential facilities in the area. Like us, I’m sure they are always in need of pillowcases and other linens and have a very low budget for such items.
The best part is that the quilters had so much fun making the pillowcases that they’re planning on making more for us.
It’s amazing what a big impact a simple idea can make on a community.
