The Friends of St Andrew’s Church Little Massingham (FOSALM) and Quilts 4 Care Leavers (q4cl.org.uk) have joined forces to organise the stitching together of a Giant HUG that will be large enough to wrap around St. Andrew’s Church in Lt. Massingham.
Why? The Friends of St. Andrew’s Charity has been successfully raising vital funds to help restore the church roof after thieves stole the lead from the roof back in 2017. We’ve managed to raise around £18,000 so far, but our overall target is £150,000!
The church is in desperate need of a HUG, but so too are the young adults who have had a hard start in life being brought up in care. Quilts 4 Care Leavers provide quilted hugs for young adults who have been in care and are making their first steps into independent living when they turn 18 (or in some cases as young as 16). This Giant HUG that wraps the Church will be made up from around 50 quilts (HUGs), which will be handed out to those leaving the care system.
Sustainability is a key theme for this project – with the aim to make the quilts from recycled cotton fabric. We’re hoping to raise lots of money as well as provide the quilts for two good causes.
So if you wanted to help make this a success by raising money for local charities and enjoy sewing we’d love to hear from you!
About Quilts for Care Leavers
The facts about life after the UK care system are bleak: 1 in 5 homeless people have been in care and 1 in 5 care leavers go on to spend time in prison. Once discharged from the local authority care system, these 16-25 year old young adults are effectively on their own, often with very limited resources. In response, every year in towns and cities around the country, groups of volunteers host Christmas Dinner events, for as many of these young adults as possible, especially those who would be spending their first Christmas Day as independents alone.
Knowing how much comfort and delight a quilt can give, a small group of stitchers formed in October 2018 aiming to make a quilted ‘hug’ for each of the attendees at one of these festive events. In less than three months, they managed to collect 120 quilts, distributing 50 to the Manchester Dinner, 50 to Leeds and 17 to a smaller event in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.