2011 Flood Quilt Appeal
After the devastation of the Queensland floods, many people and groups got together to help rebuild lives. MiniJumbuk were pleased to be involved with Queensland Quilters (www.qldquilters.com) 2011 Flood Quilt Appeal and would like to share Kim Boland's, the Queensland Quilters Inc. president, appeal report.
2011 Flood Quilt Appeal Report - Queensland Quilters
"I started the appeal in January whilst overwhelmed by the magnitude of the tragedies across our State never expecting to receive so many donations and contributions from all over Australia, New Zealand, the USA, England, Ireland and France.
Our sister Guilds in the other states and territories helped tremendously by promoting our requests, making financial contributions and also by sending many, many quilts.
Several industry suppliers supported us – Southern Australian Wool Products (Mini Jumbuk), Victorian Textiles, Lloyd Curzon and Perivale Gutermann
Most of the wonderful sewing kits were collected by Gumtree Designs ‘New Beginnings’. These were appreciatively received everywhere they were sent.
A list of all the contributors is on our website www.qldquilters.com
Quilts and kits were sent all over the State to the areas of Tully, Emerald, Theodore, Grantham, Murphy’s Creek, Forest Hill, Gatton, the Lockyer Valley area, Ipswich area and western and riverside areas of Brisbane.
The ‘quilting network’ worked well distributing them through our members and groups, their community contacts of families, friends, neighbours, churches, schools and aged care.
There were two well coordinated Neighbourhood Relief Centres which I sourced in Emerald and Booval. These helped distribute many welcomed quilts and kits to many very appreciative recipients.
What was achieved – these figures are mind boggling considering that everything has been hand made.
1320 - Quilts completed
398 - Quilt tops packed with backs, bindings and some wadding.
740 - Sewing kits
$4,500 - given to Affiliated Groups making quilts for affected people
$4,500 - given to Affiliated Groups who took the remaining quilt tops for their chosen charities. This is for them to spend in their local areas purchasing materials to finish the quilts.
$3,102 – the cost of backing fabrics, packing, postage, freight and transport.
$12,000 – the total money donated to QQ for this appeal
This project has been a massive undertaking on my behalf, completely taking over my life for the last 6 months and becoming one of the most rewarding things I have done so far in my life. I thank my husband Bruce for his tolerance and assistance during this time. Several times we found ourselves scratching our heads confronted by the inundation of stacks of boxes, evicting our cars out of our two car garage.
The thank you notes, cards, letters and emails which we received have been heart breaking. I still shake my head thankful that I was fortunate to not be affected directly.
Of course this would not have been possible without the team of ‘quilt slaves’ – Chris, Michelle, Jean, Glenys, and Robyn who spent many hours and days sorting and packing in my garage (distribution centre). I must make special mention of Rowena Radford who almost single handedly hand wrote all of the quilt labels. And also of Verna Hunt who distributed so many things through her church and many other contacts.
Our Group of Vision Patchworkers Ipswich had their church premises flooded, loosing many of their library books and furniture. We were able to help them quite a lot and several groups and businesses have helped them directly. We hope that they can return to their home in the not too distant future.
I sincerely thank everyone who has been involved in so many ways to help make this Flood Quilt Appeal a reality. All your hard work has made a difference to many lives." - Kim Boland, President
