The Quilt Group makes quilts which are donated to Lutheran World Relief.  LWR distributes the quilts world-wide to victims of disaster or others in need.  Individual members of the quilt group sew the quilt tops and bottoms in their homes.  The finished pieces are brought to the church, and the entire group meets to knot the quilts, which are then completed by one of our members.  The finished quilts are sent to the LWR distribution center in New Windsor, Maryland.   If you'd like to do more, the group welcomes donations of unwanted fabric or old sheets (table cloths, etc) or thread, or give a financial gift to help purchase supplies.  To learn more, speak to Jo Sturgis (610) 775-7062 or Kathryn Fellman (610) 777-4894, and they especially welcome anyone who might be interested in joining them for the monthly quilt-tying (simple knot-tying, no sewing required).

Last year Lutheran World Relief (LWR) sent 346,170 quilts to thirteen countries. It’s hard to know how many people benefitted from those gifts. Whatever that number might be, it’s certainly a very large one. The people who received those quilts stayed a little warmer, a little drier, a little safer in the face of poverty and warfare, disaster and displacement. About a hundred and fifty of those quilts came from Atonement.

We saw them on the backs of the pews for worship when they were blessed and sent on their way. We sat on them, touched them, admired them. From our hands, they went to the LWR distribution warehouse in Maryland where volunteers sorted and packed them for distribution. From Maryland, they may have traveled to Angola, Georgia, Honduras or India. They may have made their way to Mali, Nicaragua, Serbia, Tanzania or Ukraine. They went where they were needed most. The quilt you sat on last fall may now be in East Africa. It may be part of a tent, a floor covering, a blanket, a cape, a hammock. Someone’s life has been touched by that quilt. Chances are that, whoever now has it, has never heard of Atonement and probably never will. They will not know who we are or where we are. They will know that someone, somewhere cared. That is enough.

Atonement is a small part of a much larger effort to be the love of Jesus Christ in the world. Since we began our quilting ministry in 2012, we’ve sent nearly 350 quilts. You may not have cut a single scrap of fabric, sewed a single stitch, tied a knot or packed a box to go to Maryland, but you’ve been part of that effort. You’ve donated fabric, supplies, money. You’ve provided the space. Through prayer and presence, you’ve shaped a community that reaches out in this and so many other ways.

Before long, a new batch of quilts will brighten our worship space. We will ask God’s blessing on them as we send them out to be a blessing to others. When you see them, you may wonder where they might end up, whose lives they might touch, what difference they might make.