Angels among us
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It was back in December of 2007 that the "Blankets of Love" ministry was started by Doris and Dot Stone as part of the Kingdom Assignment through the Western Mountains Baptist Church of Kingfield.
Doris Stone said the whole idea came to her after traveling to Florida and seeing a woman apparently homeless lying on a bench. In the meantime, Dot Stone had read a story about the homeless in Maine, especially at the Mid Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville.
Both Dot and Doris read a letter from the Western Maine Baptist Church thanking the women for their contribution of blankets that they donated to the shelter valued at $200. In 2006 Doris said the shelter in Waterville served 450 adults, 150 children and served 12,000 meals to the homeless.
Joining the Stones in their effort to make bedrolls for the homeless is Carmen Boucher and her husband, Elie (who irons the quilt pieces for the women).
"We started out," said Doris, "making quillows (a quilt with a pillow), delivering some 17 of these to the homeless shelter in Waterville along with lap quilts."
"Now we are delivering to the United Way through Executive Director Lisa Park Laflin in Farmington," said Doris. Laflin said that they have delivered the quilts to the Abused Women's Advocacy Project and to the Homeless Coalition. Laflin praised the women in Kingfield for their efforts in making the quilts.
The first delivery was in September with 10 bedrolls, four youth quilts and a baby quilt to the United Way, said Doris.
In October, 10 bedrolls and five youth blankets were delivered and in December, one bedroll, three youth and one lap pad were delivered, Doris said.
Due to the donations from the local quilting group, "Stitchers in the Snow," on Jan. 20 they were able to deliver 10 blanket bedrolls and two lap pads, said Doris. Also on Jan. 20, Rev. Connie Maginnis, from the Kingfield United Methodist Church, took four bedrolls to the Waterville Homeless Shelter.
"We are so lucky to have so many local people donating scraps of materials for our projects," said Dot and Doris (both seniors who hold down fulltime jobs and sew into the night for the homeless).
If anyone has old bedspreads, blankets or pieces of material that they would like to donate, call Doris at 265-4551 or Dot at 265-2087 and they will pick them up. Also, if anyone is handy with a machine and would like to sew the quilts together they would appreciate that too. The bedrolls and lap pads can be sewen into small squares on a sewing machine or a single piece of material. The women have also made the lap pads for the elderly and shut-ins at the Kingfield Elderly Housing and for other housebound people in Kingfield.
All the "angels" agreed that people just don't realize the need for "a warm blanket" right here among us in Maine.
