Guild Association News

Seattle Children's Hospital's Guild Association has shared news with us which I want to pass along to you. 

Your gifts of time, talent and treasure make all the difference to patients and their families. 

The Uncompensated Care Activities and Achievements Report shows how your gifts make this impact. 

$120.5 million in medical costs were covered by uncompensated care in 2014, and guilds contributed $6,943,600 of that total!

The Guild Association Annual Report is up online for you information at 

http://www.seattlechildrens.org/ways-to-help/guilds/publications.

"Project Playtime" collects toys for the Child Life Department and Autism Center at the hospital. We welcome your participation in this project. The list of toys needed can be found here:

http://www.seattlechildrens.org/ways-to-help/donate/toys

You may also donate funds, if you prefer.

Thanks for all you do for Katie's Comforters Guild and Seattle Children's Hospital!

A Stash of Fleece, Transformed

It's a thrill to share with you another story of fabric which is turned into comfort. You might recall this posting from January, 2015, in which a kind-hearted donor (Kim) offered and delivered to us her generous stash of polar fleece.

This week, I received a letter from our guild member, Bethany (of Yelm Middle School), telling me that she, her students and a colleague have turned that fleece into 12 blankets - and added two quilts to the mix. Bethany wrote:

...[I] delivered 12 fleece blankets and 2 quilts to Children's yesterday via my sister. The fleece blankets were made by YMS students and were a combination of fabric that you provided and also donated by Jen Nelson.  The greener quilt was made with some of the fabric you provided me...[please add] our gratitude to those who donated the fleece and fabric that made it possible to make the blankets.

 When you donate whatever you have - time, talent, treasure or materials - you become part of the "economy of grace" in which we operate. We'd love to have you join us! Kim's fleece and Bethany's community came together - though they haven't met - through Katie's Comforters Guild. Now, their gifts are on the way to comforting 12 patients at Seattle Children's Hospital!

Thank you, Kim, Bethany, Jen and 

Yelm Middle School students!

Pay It Forward

Last month, I received this bracelet from a friend, inscribed with the message:

...yesterday, I had the opportunity to do just that, for Katie's Comforters Guild.

For months, I have been storing many boxes of beautiful, donated fabric in our home for the Guild. It sits here, just waiting for quilters who need it. I love sharing the gifts which we receive with quilters, but there are often time lags between fabric donations and need for fabric. The "stash" became an impediment to the appropriate use of a room in our house, yet I had no place to give the fabric.

Then I thought of Sue H.; a few months ago, Sue told me that she had some quilting friends who might be interested in sewing for Katie's Comforters Guild. I emailed he,r and offered them the pick of all that we had here. Yesterday, Sue and three of her friends (two friends and one friend's dear granddaughter) came to the house to sort through the fabric, and it was like Christmas morning. The exclamations of joy, excitement and appreciation of the donors' taste was so much fun to witness, like watching kids open presents!

As these lovely ladies sorted the stash into color-coordinated piles, it gradually became apparent that they liked all of it...and they wanted to take all of it, to make quilts for Seattle Children's Hospital's patients. I am thrilled! No more boxes filling the room (just a basket of seasonal and holiday fabric leftover, along with a few quilt tops which need finishing); new friends and supporters of Katie's Comforters Guild, excited to start quilting, and beautiful materials - so lovingly donated - about to be turned into comfort for sick children. It reminds me of a fairy tale (Rumpelstiltskin), in which straw was turned into gold...I can hardly wait to see the treasures these women will make using this fabric!

We have received an offer of more fabric from a generous donor in the Bonney Lake area, so if you would like to join us in our mission, and would like to use free fabric to do so, please let me know! We can connect you with the donor.

Thank you, Sue, Dawn, Becky and Grace!

A Generous Heart

Gregg and I stopped by to see Lucile this weekend. She continues to organize her home, organizing, sorting and accomplishing other important tasks which must be done after Noble's passing. We went for a visit, but Lucile's thoughtful generosity never stops; she handed us a bag of five new fleece blankets for Seattle Children's Hospital!

Thank you so much, Lucile!

Gratitude, To and From

Gratitude. It is a great thing to feel, acknowledge and receive. We feel it every day for our guild members and supporters, and we receive it from patients and their families.

I met with Ka and Rich this week, to take delivery of 3 large tubs full of cotton and flannel fabric.

If you or your quilting group need fabric to make quilts for Katie's Comforters Guild, we can supply it, thanks to Ka and Rich's generosity!

We also received the gift of a letter, written by the grandmother of two patients at Seattle Children's Hospital. She said:

"My daughter S. has been at Children's since May with her twin boys...with still weeks if not months before she can bring them home. Both born with many problems. But my daughter was given blankets for their beds that make [her] happy and the babies' beds colorful - so beautiful at such a stressful time. So on behalf of S. and I (Grandma) and the twins
Thank You so much for the happiness you gave her and her baby boys."

You and your precious family are very welcome, Grandma H.!