A Seymour woman was inspired to do something to help others after watching one of her favorite quilting shows on television.
It featured a workshop where police officers were learning to sew quilts to have on hand for children in emergency situations.
Diane Vance, a Title I teacher’s aide at Seymour-Jackson Elementary School, has been quilting for about five years, and after watching that TV episode about the officers making quilts, she thought it was something she could do.
“The officers were making quilts for their squads to have on hand in case they were the first responders to a scene where a child was rescued,” Vance said. “Then the squad members would have a quilt to give the child in need.”
Vance decided to make some quilts and donate them to children at Anchor House Family Assistance Center and Pantry in Seymour. She set a goal of 24 quilts, making two each month for a year starting last December.
Her granddaughters, Kayci Vance, 8, and Brinley Peak, 9, helped with the quilting project by choosing the colors and themes of material and cutting some of the quilting squares.
“We were just going to choose designs for boys or girls,” Brinley said. “Then I thought we should get some that would work for both in case they ran out of quilts.”
Kayci said she thought they also could design special two-sided quilts in case twins ended up coming in and choosing a quilt.
“It has been a year now, and here we are, with 24 quilts,” Diane Vance said. “There were times along the way, though, when I thought, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ The Lord found a way for me to do it. Whenever I’d wonder how I was going to afford my next batch of material, I’d find it on sale for near nothing or the batting would be on sale.”
Vance said it just worked out every time, but it wasn’t easy to do because in the midst of the quilt-making, her husband, Mark Vance, suffered serious injuries in a two-vehicle head-on collision on State Road 258 in Seymour last month.
He had to be extricated by firefighters with the Pershing Township Volunteer Fire Department before being taken to Schneck Medical Center in Seymour. He was later taken by ambulance to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Brinley’s brother, Bryce Peak, 14, was a passenger in the truck but was not injured.
“Mark has had to be off work for a while but is doing well with his fractured C4 vertebrae in his neck,” Vance said. “But he survived and will get better.”
Vance said she set the goal of 24 quilts to make it fun and to not be stressed out about it.
“After the material is cut out and ready to go, I can make a quilt pretty quickly,” she said. “One of them only took me two hours to make, but it was a pretty simple one.”
Vance has some friends who helped with the fancier stitches along the way. She would get the top ready and then give it to one of her friends to do the quilting.
“We enjoyed doing this so much,” she said. “The long arm quilters were Nilah Simmons and Alexis Ruddick. Alexis has a shop called the Quilting Goat, and also, there is a lady from Vallonia, Stacy Robbins, who helped with two quilts.”
Autumn Welch, program director for Anchor House, was on hand to receive the quilt donations from Vance.
“Something I thought was kind of neat is that when residents come in, we provide them with everything they need while they’re here,” Welch said. “We don’t give them anything to take when they leave, except a blanket for the children.”
She said it’s amazing how when kids are in that situation, they latch onto those blankets for security, so Vance’s donation was perfect.
“There’s a commercial on TV that said the No. 1 requested item for homeless shelters are socks, but for us, it’s blankets,” Welch said. “Little kids especially feel connected to these blankets, and it’s interesting to see and even the teenagers love them.”
Welch said there is a pantry open Mondays and Thursdays at Anchor House, and eligible people can come twice a month for that.
“On the shelter side, we have seven apartments that sleeps about five people, and they can stay eight weeks,” she said. “We provide everything they need while they are here, like shampoo, food, soap, blankets, etc.”
Welch said the goal is to try to get them into permanent, stable housing and sign them up for services. Currently, there is a wait list.
“Our No. 1 rule is that families that come in here must have kids, and it can be a variety of circumstances,” Welch said. “It can be a child and single parent, grandparents with grandkids, aunts and uncles that have custody, so just as long as they have children or are pregnant, they are allowed to stay.”
Welch said they have had some really great successes. For example, a couple of families just came in who were on the street with no vehicle and only the clothes on their backs.
“When they left here, they went to permanent housing, and we’ve had families donate cars to us for the residents,” Welch said. “It’s just amazing what people can accomplish in eight weeks, and it’s hard, but we can usually get it done.”
As for the 24 quilts donated by Vance, Welch requested the oldest child of each family staying at Anchor House choose a quilt they would like.
“Then we’ll store them, and as more families come in, we’ll continue with the oldest child choosing a quilt,” Welch said. “When people donate things, we try to honor their request as to how they’d like it to be done.”
Vance said everybody can do something to help people.
“They don’t have to do this and make quilts, but someone could wash clothes for someone who needs help or give someone a ride to work,” Vance said. “You can always find a way to help people, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.”