The Power of Giving
As Ascension begins our 2025 Giving Campaign, there are many and varied ways to give. I offer my own time and talent story below.
When I was in my mid-thirties, I had daily afternoon coffee with a co-worker who was in his mid-twenties. Sometimes we talked about work and sometimes we talked about family and life in general. One day he mentioned that he always carries a piece of his baby blanket. Pulling out his wallet, he retrieved a small square patch about 1.5 inches in length. Sure enough he had a piece of his blanket, much like Linus’ security blanket from the Charlie Brown cartoon series. Periodically, I thought about his little blanket patch and smiled from the memories.
Not everyone thinks of fabric in the same manner. One of my sister’s friends has a poster in her sewing room that reads, “Whoever dies with the most fabric wins!” Anyone who sews knows what this means. Some fabric you just can’t live without because you know that someday this wonderful fabric will make the perfect piece. And that’s how my fabric stash grew over the years. I clearly feel that I was a contender for that first prize. Once I retired, it seemed like the opportune moment to whittle my fabric stash so I took up quilting.
A PBS quilting show introduced me to Enchanted Makeovers, a Michigan nonprofit offering dignity and hope to women and children rebuilding their lives in long-term shelters. They accept the following handmade items: pillowcases, capes, dolls and quilts. The Enchanted Makeovers’ website tells a story of a girl who hung her new beautiful pillowcase on the wall to admire it instead of using it. I have now made fifteen pillowcases and six quilts (seven if you count one matching doll quilt) and sent those to the Michigan nonprofit.
Ascension partners with Comfort Cases each year to provide filled back packs to children in the foster care system. The purpose is to give dignity and hope to these children who sometimes have had to carry their possessions in a black garbage bag. Comfort Cases also accepts handmade quilts and hand crocheted or knitted baby blankets, but the quilts cannot be larger than 40” by 30”. I initially considered the size dimensions a creative limitation, but it has challenged my creativity in ways I did not expect. As an example, I have used leftover fabric remnants from my daughter’s friend who worked in a pediatric clinic and who made her own work shirts. Those fabric scraps became the focal point for two quilts bringing new purpose to those pieces. That purpose was magnified as a security blanket offering comfort to its foster child owner.
Ascension’s footprint in our community is vast and varied. What time and talents can you offer to Ascension or those we partner with to help individuals in our community or beyond? Consider the ripple effects of your efforts and the cherished memories for you and those you help. My hope is that my own small fabric scraps, repurposed and given new life in a quilt will have a lasting impact on a child much as the impact my friend’s blanket patch had for him. I want my quilts to be loved, used and worn out while being a constant friend to its owner.
Diane Leach
