SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, Pa. — Helen Wedde from Ashland and her friends have spent hours sitting around the table, catching up while quilting.
But the quilts are not for them.
Schuylkill County Quilters Guild members have turned their hobby into a nonprofit, donating every quilt to someone in need.
"We realized the need for it. That how much it would comfort them and it would give purpose to what we were doing," Wedde said.
One of their biggest projects is making quilts for soldiers in the Wounded Warriors Project.
Since 2010, the Schuylkill County Quilters Guild has handcrafted 76 quilts to give to injured soldiers recovering at Dover and Andrews Air Force Bases.
"We're doing a small part in something big. And you know, they took all of our quilts, and we were going to touch somebody's life. The people that were there, they used our quilts to cover them that we made," explained Sue Paul from Minersville.
After 13 years, the Schuylkill County Quilters Guild got a thank you letter from a chaplain who took his handmade quilt with him all over the world.
"He said it fit so well in his duffle bag. He said it just traveled with him to so many countries he had taken it to it brought back memories. He said his grandmother was a quilter," Wedde added.
Chaplain J.D. Rumz took the quilt made by Helen Wedde from Dover Air Force Base to the rest of his deployments in Syria, Portugal, Greece, and ten other countries.
His letter thanked Wedde and the other quilters guild members for giving him something that made him feel at home.
"I was really surprised because out of all the quilts that went out, to think he was the man to get my quilt, and he was so appreciative of it," Wedde said.
His gratitude gives the Schuylkill County Quilters Guild another reason to keep on quilting.
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