Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Spring 2013 Issue | Page 26

Wrapped with Love Bill Montgomery In 2009, St. Peter’s, Arlington, began raising funds to help build a home for children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic in Masiphumelele, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, through partnership with the St. Francis Outreach Trust (SFOT) in Simon’s Town. In 2011, a mission trip from St. Peter’s helped to finish the home and work in the township. The group brought each of the children and their housemother a personal gift of a handmade “log cabin” quilt, incorporating messages of love from children at St. Peter’s. The beauty of the log cabin pattern is in the design of the quilt squares, each with a light and dark side. The light side symbolizes the daylight and brighter, happier days of life, the dark side represents the night or the darker, harder times; the center that ties together the light and dark is an art square depicting God’s love. SFOT encouraged St. Peter’s to think about ways to continue this ministry, and identified 24 more orphan homes with 150 children deserving of a Love Quilt. The St. Peter’s Love Quilt Project is committed to produce the quilts to meet this need. St. Peter’s hosted a table at the last two diocesan Councils to generate support for the project. Ten Episcopal churches and schools in the Diocese participated last year, and several in Florida and elsewhere. Churches, schools, Scout troops, synagogues and other organizations are creating art squares. Quilters throughout Virginia and beyond have volunteered to sew the quilts. On World AIDS Awareness Day, December 6, 2012, in conjunction with the Embassy of South Africa, St. Peter’s hosted a “Messages of Love Gala” at the Falls Church Episcopal to display the next 45 completed quilts, raising over $2,000 for the Love Quilt Project. In January, these quilts were delivered to children in South Africa, and retired Archbishop of Cape Town the Most Rev. Njongo Ndungane formally endorsed the Love Quilt Project. 24 The most important aspect of the quilt project is the art squares: God’s love is expressed through the children creating the squares. St. Peter’s provides groups with fabric squares and an explanation about the importance of sharing our love with those who are less fortunate. Children then create messages of love through their artwork. The completed quilts meet a basic human need for both warmth and love. Last year, St. Peter’s received a $5,000 Mustard Seed Grant from the Diocese to support publication later this year of a children’s storybook about the power of God’s love and the magic of the quilts. The book will recount the story of the first mission trip, the origin of the quilt idea and the message of love embodied in each quilt. It will be a teaching aid for groups creating the art squares, and a copy will be delivered to each of the homes receiving quilts to tell orphans the story of the quilts and that there are people who care for them. Through bookstores such as Virginia Theological Seminary, Shrine Mont and the National Cathedral, St. Peter’s hopes it can contribute to a wider awareness of the crisis in South Africa. Any proceeds will directly support the quilt project and homebuilding efforts. Art squares are now being created for 100 quilts to be delivered to orphan homes in 2014. If you know of a group of children that would like to send messages of love through art squares or someone who would like to make a quilt, Virginia Episcopalian / Spring 2013 A St. Peter’s Love Quilt wraps a child with warmth and love. please contact the Love Quilt Project at [email protected]. The project has touched the lives of the orphan children as well as the children and adults participating in America. The added symbolism is that it crosses the oceans, literally stitching together communities as one to serve the desperate needs of these children in South Africa. t