On Saturday the big winners of the Houston International Quilt Festival were announced online, by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims.
We are excited to announce that Janet Stone won the eQuilter.com Master Award for Machine Artistry, and we hope you will see her beautiful quilt in person the end of this month! (image above)
While the news cycle has already moved on from the recent hurricanes, for the most part, we are still hearing about very difficult conditions on the ground for those who lost their homes. We are working with a new partner in North Carolina, and we have new information about where to ship quilts for those who are most in need.
But first let me share a backstory:
In 2001 I met a quilter named Dara in an online quilt group. She is a Buddhist nun, and at the time was a 2nd grade teacher. She lives in the Washington DC suburbs, and has been involved with many service projects and non-profits over the years. She is one of those lovely selfless people who has dedicated her life to helping others. Every year when I go to the DC area, we try to get together. She took me to the annual Lotus Festival one year, and we’ve visited many quilt exhibits and art museums together over the years.
I reached out to her this last week, and it turns out that her Buddhist temple is deeply involved with a disaster relief project right now in Western North Carolina. They have a trusted local member there who is helping Hurricane Helene victims. We will be working with this organization to help those most impacted by the storm in this area.
Please ship your donated comfort quilts directly to:
KPC Buddhist Relief
c/o Kelly Zarcone
155 Buckner Rd.
Black Mountain, NC 28711
If you are in the Boulder Colorado area, you may also drop them off in person at our warehouse.
Please DO NOT ship to eQuilter. Ship directly to North Carolina.
Any quilts dropped off IN PERSON at eQuilter will be shipped by us to NC.
We ask that you send quilts that are Lap, Twin or Full size.
Please send stitched quilts, not tied quilts, so they will have a long life of use with their recipients. You are welcome to include a pillowcase if you wish.
We do encourage you to put your name & town on a label, and a message of support if possible. You can also donate directly to this organization to directly fund their local relief efforts.
KPC Buddhist Relief is the humanitarian arm of Kunzang Palyul Choling, established in 1985 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. In 2005, Jetsunma started Buddhist Relief as an immediate response to Hurricane Katrina. One group traveled from Maryland to New Orleans to provide food, clothing, and emotional support to those in need, while another group brought over 100 abandoned dogs back to a ranch in Arizona to care for them until they were adopted or moved to a long-term facility. We continued supporting local food relief efforts, partnered with United Sikhs to support Ukraine refugees on the ground in Poland, and collected items for newly arrived immigrants and refugees. As the pandemic waned and food insecurity rose, Buddhist Relief established partnerships with other non-profits to provide items not normally donated to food pantries and kitchens – fresh produce, cultural foods, condiments, and seasonings. Today we work with 8 different organizations to supply over 2000 pounds of food a week, tailoring our donations to their specific needs.
If you would like to make a financial donation to support the hurricane relief effort in the Swannanoa, NC community, please click here.
Kelly is our Buddhist Relief contact on the ground in western NC. She lives in Black Mountain, about 10 minutes away from Swannanoa, a community that has been devastated by the hurricane. She has established connections with Bounty and Soul, a local food pantry who are distributing food, clothing, hygiene items, and much more, and Blunt Pretzels, whose staff and volunteers are feeding hundreds of people daily. Buddhist Relief has been collecting highly requested items to support their efforts in this area. Kelly has a large storage area in her home to house the quilts and is working with Bounty and Soul to find the best way to distribute the quilts. She also has personal connections with families who have lost everything and is deeply touched by the outpouring of makers who want to send comfort in this way.
Over 25 years eQuilter has helped to collect and distribute over 20K donated comfort quilts, with our partners Mission of Love, Engineers Without Borders, and other local groups. You can see photo albums from these past projects on this page. We are very serious about working with trusted partners so that your precious quilts will be personally distributed to those in the most dire need. When possible, we request photos from our partners on the ground, and we will share those photos whenever possible.
Our humble thanks to those of you who choose to give generously to this effort.
Sharing your love of fabric…
Luana and Paul
