The RFVQC was started by Anne Mains who joined a craft club soon after moving to Russell.  After learning about Victoria’s Quilts Canada, Mains and five other women decided to transform the craft club into a quilting club. Over the years the group have created approximately 3,500 quilts, which have been provided to people affected by cancer both locally and across the country.

The RFVQC are an outreach ministry of St. Mary’s Anglican Church, with the women gathering each Friday to create the quilts, which are blessed at a service at St. Mary’s before they are sent.

The quilters were joined by Russell Township Councillor Lisa Deacon and Lucie Doré, vice-president of the National Board of Victoria’s Quilt and Chair of the Ottawa Branch of Victoria’s Quilts Canada, who both praised the work done by the group.

A PowerPoint presentation of the highlights over the groups 20 years was followed by the sharing of a specially decorated cake and the opportunity for more socializing.

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The quilting group usually meets two mornings a week during the winter months. People who like their quilts to be hand-stitched can bring their quilts to the group. “We track the hours that it takes to quilt a quilt …and then we use that as a fundraiser for the church. It ends up costing whoever has the quilt a couple of hundred dollars,” quilter Marie Cheesman told Crosstalk.

When she learned about the group Quilts for Survivors, she brought the idea to the other quilters who were enthusiastic about the idea. The Rev. Matthew Brown suggested they approach the ACW to help fundraise for the costs of shipping the quilts to the Quilts for Survivors office in Timmins, Ont., and the idea was keenly received.

“I think we started the fundraising for that in May and by the end of June we had the $700. And all that is freewill offerings that people give during coffee hour after the 10 o’clock service,” Cheesman said. The quilters would drape a quilt over an easel to show their work with a flyer about the project as a reconciliation initiative. It was a good opportunity for more of the community to be involved and to support the project, she said.

Brown blessed the quilts at the Sunday service, following National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

In October, a couple from the church planned to deliver their package including 10 completed quilts, 26 quilt tops, 20 quilt blocks, a selection of bindings and backings, and 12 handmade cards created to accompany the quilts to the Quilts for Survivors studio in Timmins.

Quilters and anyone interested in supporting this work in other ways can find more information at https://www.quiltsforsurvivors.ca/.

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