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'Warming up' the food bank
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Accepting the gift on behalf of the Elgin Food Bank board of directors was Pat McMullen. “We want to thank the quilt club for giving us a quilt to hang on the wall,” said McMullen. Gail Pope, president of the Blue Mountain Quilters, said that she came up with the idea of a quilt to hang at the food bank because she wanted to cheer up the store.“Everyone contributed fabrics and made a jar,” said Pope. “It will cheer things up in here.” The fabrics that were collected depict colorful fruits and vegetables that a homemaker may preserve, including strawberries, onions, oranges, apples, olives, carrots, mushrooms, cucumbers and even a jar of vegetable soup — enough fabric designs to create 35 jars on the quilt. The jar depicting corn cobs was signed by each of the quilters. After each member made a jar with its unique food design, the quilt was machine quilted by member Kay Anicker. It measures about 50 inches by 70 inches in size and comes with a dowell sleeve to hang it up on the wall above the chest freezer. “We just want to let people know we care about them,” said quilter Ann Warren. “It’s just a little something to warm up the place.” The quilt club has about 25 members, and one of them also does the window dressing at the Elgin Food Bank. The club meets every first and third Thursdays of the month at 8 a.m. at the Elgin United Methodist Church, said member Becci Scott. Peggy Hayes, a board member of the Elgin Food Bank, said that the bank serves 88 families each month with food boxes. “We are expecting to serve over 100 families for Thanksgiving,” she said. “We changed our policy for food boxes, and now we let people choose what foods they want in their box. There’s no waste this way.” The food boxes are put together every third Saturday of the month. Anyone interested in receiving a food box must come to the food bank and register first. Bread is given out to the public every Wednesday at 4 p.m. as part of the Alliance Program with Community Connection, Hayes said. |
