For over 30 years a number of ladies with the Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church have been spending their winter months designing quilts and care packages destined for people in need around the globe.

Phyllis Mason, one of the ladies who helps sew and pin the quilts, said the group designed 57 60″x80″ quilts this year between January and Easter. These quilts were on display last Monday at the annual Redeemer Lutheran Church Tea, which is held to raise money for the Canadian Lutheran World Relief We Care program that ships the quilts to destinations around Canada and the world.

In addition to the quilts, the ladies showcased nine sewing kits, four children’s kits, four hygiene kits, 12 baby layettes and over 20 pneumonia prevention vests for infants and toddlers as well as a few other items that will be also be shipped to refugees and orphanages in needy countries.

“It’s a humanitarian thing to do,” said Mason, noting the ladies have no idea where their work is headed. “We in this country have so much. We don’t know how lucky we are.”

Mason said the five or six ladies who are involved in sewing and pinning the quilts try to use heavier materials such as polyesters and heavy cottons in their design. The materials used are generally donations to the group for the work.

She said the other handiwork such as blankets and the items in the various kits and bundles are also donated to the group or supplied by the members. These items include things like thread, buttons and needles for the sewing kits or soap, toothbrush, toothpaste and “something fuzzy” in the children’s kits.

The group gets together during the winter months to assemble these bundles and sew the quilts on donated sewing machines. They also spend time at home completing the work in time for the May tea.

“We believe it helps,” said Mason, who has been involved with the program since it began. “The people that receive them really need them.”