Community Service – keep scrolling, there are lots of opportunities!

A new opportunity for our group

Quilts of Valor is an international organization which awards quilts to Service Members and Veterans who have been touched by war.  It says, “thank you for your service and sacrifice in serving our nation.”  The organization was started by Catherine Richards while her son was serving in the US Army.  To date Quilts for Valor has awarded almost 300,000 quilts to Service Members and Veterans

You are invited to participate in Quilts of Valor by making the QOV 2022 Block of the Year, the Floating Churn Dash.  The pattern is available on NSNG (https://nsng.org/community-service/) and the Quilts of Valor (https://www.qovf.org/in-the-news/churning-it-up/) web sites.  Send your completed blocks directly to Quilts of Valor where they will be put together into tops and then long arm quilted.  (The blocks will fit into an envelope for easy mailing.)

Choose good quality 100% cotton fabric appropriate for adults. A Quilt of Valor does not have to be red, white and blue, but patriotic colors are very popular with recipients. Patterns can be of any design suitable for a patriotic theme. Avoid juvenile, gender or branch specific fabrics. 

Thank you for supporting our Veterans and Service Members. Please keep a tally of the blocks you make and send your number to Gretchen Alexander (gretchen.alexander@sbcglobal.net) for a Guild total count.

Link to the pattern: https://nsng.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2022-Floating-Churn-Dash.pdf

Another new opportunity!

Meals on Wheels: Delivering So Much More Than A Meal

Meals on Wheels has been guided by a single goal since the first known U.S. delivery by a small group of Philadelphia citizens in 1954 – to support our senior neighbors to extend their independence and health as they age. What started as a compassionate idea has grown into one of the largest and most effective social movements in America, currently helping nearly 2.4 million seniors annually in virtually every community in the country.

Funding sources for local Meals on Wheels programs vary based on the needs and resources of the community are made up of federal, state, local and private dollars. This hybrid funding model makes Meals on Wheels a successful public-private partnership that needs to be bolstered to keep up with the growing demand.

Frequent in-home visits provide unique opportunities to meet nutritional needs, combat social isolation, address safety hazards and provide holistic care. The meals are prepared in commercial kitchens and delivered by volunteers. 

You can add a bit of joy and color by creating and donating a placemat to be delivered with the meal.  These placemats should be about 8.5” by 11” (think about a sheet of copy paper).  They should be two-sided and washable.  This is a great way to use ‘orphan blocks”, sample pieces, or UFOs you just can’t part with.

Please send your finished Meals on Wheels Placemats in a large envelope (they can be folded) to Gretchen Alexander, 1280 Village Drive,  Apt. 131A, Arlington  Heights, Illinois 60004.  The placemats will be delivered to Meals on Wheels programs across Northern Illinois.

Gretchen – Service Chair (see newsletter for contact info)

Check out some additional pictures below.


Days for Girls is a Global program providing sanitary protection to women and girls. This enables them to conduct their normal daily routine . NSNG earmarks their contribution to friends in Madagascar. At the end of May we will ship them 1,400 kits.

For more information on Days for Girls click here and for additional pictures click see below.

One Saint Patrick’s Day……

A fun day was had, with some kids in the loop, sewing on the Days for Girls Project…