Suburbs

Obviously, this is the time of the year for giving and kind acts and consideration of your community.

For those reasons, I really like the story reporter Michael Waddell did this week on the pillowcases for the incoming residents at Youth Villages in Bartlett.

The group responsible — called the Memphis Cotton Patchers Quilt Club — has made the pillowcases for the past 11 years. They meet twice a month at Shady Grove Presbyterian Church in East Memphis.

There they make and create pillowcases for the youths coming to the residential facility. In many situations, that may be one of the few things the child has in their belongings.

Therefore, the work by the quilting group becomes something important in the new environment.

“When you think about it, there’s nothing more personal than a sheet, a blanket and a pillow you put your head on every night.” said Youth Villages CEO Pat Lawler, whose mother, Marge, was a guild member before she died in 2018.

And it is true, isn’t it? Something that gives you comfort. Something that enhances the time when you relax, and for the children at Youth Villages, an accompaniment to a time at night where they might be able to put away their worries and concerns.

In a troublesome time for the residents, can’t something as simple as a pillowcase serve as a treasure and comfort for the children?

The quilting guild meets twice a month to stitch together the pillowcases. Over the past five years, they have provided more than 2,000 20-inch-by-26-inch pillowcases for those who have arrived at the village.

The group also makes larger lap quilts for patients at the West Cancer Clinic and small ones for infants at Regional One Health.

Of course, this is just one example of the kindness of people this time of the year. This is a time when you feel the need to grab a request from an unknown person off a tree at church. A time where you seem to always have a spare dollar bill to put in a red kettle. A day when there’s a bit of a higher number on the check that goes in the bucket that they pass around at Christmas services — or as I call it, the cover charge.

And, yes, the holiday passed Thursday, and all the presents have been unwrapped. But maybe the feeling we get during the holiday season should somehow spread throughout the year. Bringing comfort to those in need. Not just at the December holiday season.

Maybe there should be another time when angels bearing the requests of people in need adorn a tree. Maybe we all should consider a little extra to help out folks year-round.

After all, the Cotton Patchers Quilt Guild doesn’t just do their work in December. Why should we?

— Suburbs editor, Clay Bailey

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