Square by square and stitch by stitch, creative minds and hands come together at area churches to craft comfort for neighbors near and far.
Each blanket or shawl brings comfort to its recipient and serves as “tangible reminders of our thoughts and prayers for them,” said Christine Hampshire, who heads the Prayer Shawl Ministry and Dorcas Circle at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Oregon.
“As it was created, you were prayed for, asking the Lord to give you many blessings,” reads a card provided with every item gifted by the ministry. “May God’s Grace be upon it so that it may warm you, comfort you, enfold and embrace you in His love.”
The Dorcas Circle is named after the Greek name for Tabitha, a New Testament disciple who made clothing for the poor. It focused on prayer shawls when it was formed in 2018, but has since expanded to a variety of knitted and crocheted items.
Ms. Hampshire’s creative outlet and favorite item to make is a “twiddle muff.” It’s a crocheted muff to warm a person’s hands, but on the outside it is decorated with colors, beads, yarn, and crocheted shapes. It serves as something for people with Alzheimer's disease, as well as autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to fiddle with.
When St. Paul’s Pastor Julie Beitelschees makes hospital visits to congregants or their family members, she gifts them one of these twiddle muffs, or a shawl or a “lapghan” — a lap-sized afghan.
The Dorcas Circle’s 10 members — about a third of the church’s total membership — also make hats, scarves, and other items that are given to families at the monthly community meal called Rita’s Soups and food pantry outreach efforts.
Gifting warmth
Just before they took a lunch break at a recent meeting, a handful of women at Epiphany Lutheran Church in Toledo laid out groupings of 48 fabric squares to construct their next two quilts.
“Let’s put the purple and then the green.”
“Try the green on the other side.”
“How about some of the purple over here?”
“We're not always on board with what we think is pretty and what we think is ugly,” explained quilting group member Julie McIntyre.
Even with their own tastes in patterns and color combinations, at the end of the day, the members feel connected to each other as they work to support those in need. The quilts are donated to Lutheran World Relief, a nonprofit that supports the world’s poorest communities. The organization’s quilt program is its longest-running effort, having first provided quilts to European families in the aftermath of World War II.
Epiphany Church gives roughly 125 quilts each year to the mission. Zoar Lutheran Church in Perrysburg also participates in the program, and donated 336 quilts last year.
Both churches lay out the quilts in their respective sanctuaries for a blessing service in October before they’re sent off to Lutheran World Relief.
“Our neighbor is not just the person who lives next door; it's everybody in the world,” said Arlene Hustwick, who coordinates Zoar’s Piece Corp Quilters group.
At St. Joseph Catholic Church in Sylvania, blankets are offered to those closer to home. The church’s Comfort Blanket Ministry offers a blanket to every family for whom the church provides a funeral, in addition to the occasional parishioner who could benefit from one.
Each blanket is made up of 25 fabric squares, including a drawing of the church at the center surrounded by words or Bible verses of hope and strength.
Danita Binkowski draws and paints the words and the church, based on a drawing from an old church bulletin, onto the fabric.
“I bring these in, they take them and then … somehow they make all these beautiful blankets out of all the different fabrics that we have,” Ms. Binkowski said. “It’s just divine inspiration. … They just come together.”
Group leader Denise Stump said families tend to choose quilts with a pattern that reminds them of their lost loved one.
“That's really the icing on the cake for us to know that we've put something out there that they can relate to and take home and cherish,” she said.
Trimming down
St. Joseph’s comfort blanket group has only a dozen members. And it’s hard to get people involved.
“We'd like to produce more,” Ms. Stump said. “We'd like to put more out into the community.”
A prayer shawl ministry at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Point Place is operated solely by Lynn McDonagh. She said the group used to be bigger, but saw a decline because of the pandemic and because parishioners tend to be older.
“It’s basically just me making them now,” Ms. McDonagh said. “I have not tried to rebuild because most of the people are old. I’m in my 70s. Most people in our church are older than I am … dealing with arthritis.”
But she’s still making around eight shawls and lap robes a year. They’re blessed and placed in the church vestibule for people to take if they or a loved one could use comfort, warmth, and prayers.
Members of the various groups feel one doesn’t need to know the craft to participate. There’s something for any level: cutting and ironing fabric squares, pinning and tying knots, or serging the edge of the finished quilt.
The St. Paul’s Dorcas Circle provides patterns for those new to the art.
“What we do here, it's not rocket science sewing. It's pretty basic things,” said Ms. Hustwick from Zoar’s quilting group.
Much of the work for each group is done at home, and members often are welcome to make as much or as little as they want. When groups gather weekly or monthly, they exchange materials and showcase their creations.
Faith and fellowship
These ministries foster tight-knit relationships among members, while also being a means to serve and pray for those in need.
“We're all servant people and they're made with love,” Ms. Hustwick said. “We think about where they go and what blessing’s they bring.”
Ms. Binkowski has found that “besides praying for the people and doing it to give to other people,” it’s also helped her improve her art and grow spiritually. As she writes the Scripture verses or inspirational words, she often finds that she needed to hear the message, “as much as I think it helps other people.”
Crafters can enjoy their interest while “giv[ing] back what we’re gifted with,” added St. Joseph member Nancy Hinebaugh.
“I know from personal experience, when you're going through something or you're caring for someone who's going through something, having someone reach out with prayer or something of comfort lifts you up,” said Ms. Hampshire, of St. Paul’s. “Having had that blessing myself, I want to continue to do that for others as long as … my eyes and hands hold out.”
Contact Sarah Readdean at sreaddean@theblade.com.
First Published December 3, 2022, 5:00 p.m.
