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I am a storyteller working for the Sumner County (TN) Arts Council through a grant from the Gallatin (TN) Junior Service League, going to local day care facilities and retirement homes and assisted living facilities and bringing themed story programs to young and old. After purchasing The Quiltmaker's Gift for my 10 year old grandchild, I read through it and promptly fell in love with the beauty of both the story and the art. I decided to use it as the centerpiece for this year' stories - an hour long program about quilts, quilters and individual personal histories. I am also giving the book to special friends and family members for their delight. Thank you so much for sharing your gifts with the world.
– Carol Roberts The Quiltmaker's Gift is being used for character education at our school. The book has also inspired lots of ideas for community service. I have just picked up a copy of The Quiltmaker's Gift after hearing about it at my Charity Quilt program. I am about to start teaching sewing and quilting to a group of home schooled students and this story will work into our program beautifully. I had planned to teach them to make a baby quilt to give away to some worthy organization. Now I can read the story to them in preparation for this. The beautiful illustrations will also help me to teach the about different quilt patterns. Thanks so much for a wonderful story. My 3-year-old daughter received TQG as a holiday gift this season.
We have enjoyed reading it together several times already and we are both touched by the power and beauty of the book. Part of my connection to TQG is that it is a direct reminder of the work done daily by young people in Fresh Youth Initiatives, an after-school program in the Washington Heights section of NYC. Since 1995, teens at FYI have been hand-sewing sleeping bags from scratch, which are then delivered to the homeless in our area. We have probably made over 400 sleeping bags over the years, and have had over 1,000 youth take part. We have particularly enjoyed demonstrating this project to others at conferences and trainings around NYC, and in our service trips around the country, which have taken us to Michigan, Maryland, California, Florida and in 2002, Eastern Kentucky.
Like the message of TMG, we find daily at FYI that the act of giving is more powerful than that of receiving, and that young people can move themselves forward in all kinds of good ways through consistent, meaningful service activities.
I look forward to sharing TMG with the young people in my program.  |
