Selfless Service
The ladies of the Sathya Sai Baba Center of East Brunswick (Mid-Atlantic Region) have been sewing quilts for distribution since 2005. At first there were only two ladies but then they started meeting at the center on Saturday mornings and slowly more ladies joined in. They met for a couple of hours each week but wanted to try a longer session.
In February this year, 30 ladies from the East Brunswick Sai Center got together and decided to have a quilting marathon. In preparation, 100 yards of printed cotton material and a similar amount of matching printed fleece were purchased—that in itself was fun.
We requested the local library for a room for one Sunday afternoon. We brought our sewing machines, our material, our tapes, scissors, and needles etc, all the paraphernalia needed for our project, and set ourselves up.
We lined the tables along the walls near the electric outlets where the ladies who were sewing could plug in their machines. In the center of the room a few tables were set up for the use of two teams: one team of ladies sorted out the material and measured it, cut it and matched up the various components of the quilts and another team hand basted the pieces together. These quilts were then sewn up on the machines.
The “production line” included children who passed on the quilts to the machinists, kept count of the quilts, picked up scraps from the floor and passed out the snacks. For a while we had taped bhajans in the background. Later, however, many women broke into spontaneous singing.
In over three hours, 40 quilts were completed, and many more had been basted together. Some ladies took them home to finish. Others took the extra material home and sewed the remaining quilts. Many others took the finished quilts home to wash and pack them in bags to be distributed.
By the end of the week 85 quilts had been made, washed, packed, and distributed. As a mini project on the side, one lady made 34 wool woolens, which were also donated to Project Linus—a New Jersey based volunteer organization that distributes quilts and caps to shelters and hospitals.
Here are some expressions of gratitude from the recipients:
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your volunteers for the wonderful baby blankets and hats. We have used them at our “baby showers” and the moms to be have responded with extreme gratitude. The care and love with which these blankets are knit is evident. Again, thank you for taking the time to provide our women with gifts of love.” ~Perinatal Risk Reduction Coordinator
“Thank you once again for your generous and beautiful donation of blankets. Our patients will be most appreciative when we begin to distribute on/at Easter/Passover time. Thanks so much.” ~Atlantic County Rescue Mission
“Thank you so much for the large blanket donation. It was very much appreciated at Saint Peter’s University Hospital. The patients love them all and the volunteers enjoy handing them out.” ~Volunteer Services
“Thank you very much for the generous donation of knitted blankets for our children in the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at The Children’s Hospital. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. They will surely help our children to feel a little better.” ~Administration of SPUH
“On behalf of the staff, children and families of CHSPUH, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your kind donation of handmade blankets, quilts, and hats for our pediatric patients. Your thoughtfulness has helped to brighten the day for many of our patients and their families during their hospital stay. Again, thank you for all of your time, thoughtfulness, and generosity. We all at Saint Peters’ appreciate you thinking of our children and families.” ~Child Life Coordinator
“Thank you for your kind donation of blankets, sweaters, booties, and hats to Hudson Cradle Infant Home. The donation will be used toward making sure our foster babies with special health and developmental needs get the best care possible. Thank you for supporting our babies.” ~President Hudson Cradle Infant Home
