Quilt Drives - lessons learned

This blog post is a little different from our typical topics of discussion, but it is super relevant and important, nonetheless. You might recall our Quilt Drive a few months ago that we held for Helene survivors in our local community. Our town of Black Mountain, North Carolina and the surrounding region, as a whole, was devastated by flooding, landslides and downed trees.  They're actually saying that we saw a 1,000 year flood which was not only caused by record-breaking rainfall, but was amplified by the topography of our land and mountains. Needless to say, for about 2 months, we were all very much in survival mode and only focusing on rescue, recovery and basic needs. This happened at the end of September and a week or two later, we had a cold snap that was especially concerning for those of us who still didn't have power and for even some who were living (and still are, unfortunately) in tents on their property. This need spurred on our Quilt Drive in an effort to help keep our neighbors warm.

I'll be honest, I had a pretty low goal for this quilt drive. I thought it would be amazing if we collected 100 quilts (and it would have been!). However, we were completely shocked in the best way when we received well over 4,000 quilts by the end of the drive! It's been on my heart and mind that I should document everything that we learned from the drive but it really became apparent due to the current wildfire situation in Southern California. 

Since the fires started, we've had several of you reach out asking for tips for how to run an effective quilt drive. I've been glued to the news, watching in horror as so many people have been displaced and/or have lost everything. I'm sad to say that those of us in Western North Carolina, and anyone who has lived through similar events knows all too well the trauma of surviving something like this and all the emotions that come along with it. I cannot say that I am an expert at organizing a quilt drive, but I very much empathize (to some degree) with everything that our Southern California friends are experiencing. So my aim is to document everything that we learned from our drive, both for one who is organizing a drive and also for anyone who would like to donate a quilt, or help in some way.

FIRST AND FOREMOST

I think it goes without saying, but in any crisis like this, top priorities are always physiological needs. Thinking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, these are things like food, water, shelter, clothing and sleep. In any catastrophic event like these, these are the very things that are compromised. Immediately after Helene, it was amazing to see the outpouring of community/mutual aid that poured out from those in our community and literally the entire world. Donations of bottled water, warm clothes, food; it was all truly amazing and humbling to be on the receiving end of those donations. A quilt drive actually didn't cross my mind until many organizations in our area started asking for warm blankets. That's when I knew that it was our time to step up and help!

THE CALL

Immediately after we decided to host a drive, we put out a call to our email list and social media accounts. I also made a blog post landing page to give more details and also to direct people to non-profits like World Central Kitchen and Samaritan's Purse, who had boots on the ground in our area. Some people wanted to donate financially, so I felt like it was important to direct people to reputable, hard-working organizations that were making a difference. If you're curious, you can find the blog post here and the social media post here. I was careful only to put pertinent information in captions (and not text overlay on a photo) because I wanted to be able to go in and update verbiage when I needed to. This was super important was we were reaching max capacity, we were able to update the caption to let people know that we were no longer accepting quilts. 

It is also important to specify that the quilts should be clean and new. We were all without power for close to a month, so there was no way to wash any quilts that needed cleaning. 

ACCEPTING QUILTS

It's really important to have a big space to accept donations. Thankfully, our studio is in downtown Black Mountain on the street level with two big garage doors. Since we have a decently large space, it made accepting packages and sorting thousands of quilts that much easier. If you are looking to organize a quilt drive, make sure that you have the space to do it! An alternative is to ask to borrow space at a church, library or other public/ non profit space. During our drive, we had several churches and quilts shops reach out to offer storage/sorting space if we needed it. We almost got to the point where we did, but we were able to keep everything in-house. 

It can also be helpful to let your delivery drivers know what you are doing so that they know what to expect. Our UPS driver planned to make special stops to deliver packages and we coordinated a package drop-off behind our studio with the Post Office. 

Something that we weren't expecting was the amount of non-quilt donations that we received. Keep in mind that you will likely receive other items, so consider a seperate space for those items and have a plan for what you are going to do with them. We received a large supply of toiletries, as well as some clothes, sleeping bags (which were VERY much in need), pillows, toys, etc. 

 

PROCESSING THE QUILTS

Once the packages arrive, then it's time to process. I knew this would be a big undertaking, but I didn't quite understand the scale of it all until we suddenly had hundreds of packages to unpack. Thankfully, we had several people in our area volunteer to help. I cannot emphasize enough how much of an ENORMOUS help this was! Definitely get as many people to help you with this as possible. 

 

When we first started receiving quilts, we were measuring each quilt, labeling it and putting it in a bag for easy storage/distribution. After the first couple of days of this, we realized that it would be SO much easier if the donor measured, labeled and packaged the quilt prior to sending so that we didn't spend any extra time on those steps. This was probably my biggest takeaway from the entire drive! Having donors measure, label with the size and theme (optional) saved so much time and energy in the long run. 

Another thing that we didn't really consider was the amount of cardboard/packaging material that we had to deal with. The town of Black Mountain's trash/recycling trucks were flooded during Helene, so we didn't have any trash services at the studio for about a month. This meant that we had to break down boxes and store them until we were able to properly get rid of them, which took up a lot of space. We did reuse many boxes when folks came to pick up quilts. It was really nice to have them to help organize quilts by size and such...but even then, it was a lot of cardboard to process. 

QUILT SIZES

Once the quilts were unboxed, we sorted them all by size. We received baby/crib size quilts all the way up to King size quilts. We found that sorting the quilts by size was super important for the efficiency of whoever was distributing or receiving the quilt. We also found that we received the most baby size quilts, but the greatest need was throw to bed size quilts. Many organizations were specifically asking for Twin, Queen and King size quilts. Baby quilts were definitely useful, but we could have used more bed size quilts. 

DISTRIBUTION

When I initially planned the drive, I was expecting to bring all of the quilts to the organizations that were asking for them. As we started to receive more and more quilts, I realized that we could broaden our reach. I started calling around to various non-profits and emergency distribution centers. Something that was also extremely effective was word-of-mouth. After Helene, our cell towers and internet capabilities were down for a few weeks. This was something that I know I take for granted, so it was quite the challenge to navigate without our normal means of communication. Because of that, word-of-mouth became so so important. We put out a call to our community to help spread the word that we had handmade quilts for those in need. Shortly there-after, we had social workers, fire fighters, community organizers and neighbors reaching out and stopping by the studio to pick up quilts for folks who needed them. Word started to spread, not only in Black Mountain, but throughout the entire Western NC region. We had quilts headed to Boone, Newland, Marshall and other heavily impacted area. We actually had a milkmaid make multiple trips to our studio over multiple weeks to pick up quilts and hand-deliver them to people who were stranded and short on resources. It was amazing to have people drive from hours away to bring a carload of quilts back to their communities. 

We also set up pick-up time windows for our studio so that we knew what to expect every day. There were a few instances where we had to adjust our schedule to be there for someone who was coming to pick-up quilts, but having set times every day that we made public was super super helpful. 

To get the ball rolling, with distribution, it might be beneficial to call around. Remember to specify that you have new and unused handmade quilts of all sizes that are already organized and labeled.  Never unload anything at a distribution site that isn't asking for them. And I found that places were more likely to accept the quilts if they knew that they were new and already labeled and organized. Many places especially wanted the quilts knowing that they were handmade from quilters around the world. 

Here is a list of places to check with:

• Department of Social Services (DSS)
• fire stations
• churches (every single place of worship in our area opened it's doors for donations)
• rotary groups
• libraries
• hospitals
• health department
• veterans centers
• food pantries
• local non-profits that were previously or newly established
  
• restaurants or other local business that have temporarily converted their space into distribution/aid centers. Many of our local businesses did this for about 2 months after the storm

Don't forget to ask your audience for contacts. We made so many connections in our community from this. And when you make a connection, be sure to tell them to help spread the word. This really helped us to get quilts in the hands of those who needed them. It can be a lot to coordinate, so make lots of notes so that you can keep track of your game plan. 

Something else to consider is setting up your own distribution point. When our local farmers market started back up a few weeks after the storm, volunteers set up a booth at the market with free quilts to anyone who was affected by Helene. This was so sweet to witness and brought such a ray of sunshine for people. 

In summary, here are the take-aways for the Quilt Drive hosts:

• Where ever you are posting about the drive, make sure it is in a space that is editable. You will want to eventually end the drive and changing the original post to reflect that is the best way to ensure that everyone sees and you don't continue to receive quilts long after the Quilt Drive has ended. 
• Also direct people to places where they can donate. Dollars are crucial following a catastrophic event. 
• Make sure you have a large space to accept donations.
• Consider letting your local delivery/postal drivers know that you will be receiving an influx of packages. 
• Ask for volunteers to help unbox and sort.
• Ask for donors to measure, label and package each quilt to save time. 
• Sort incoming quilts by sizes.
• Expect lots of cardboard and recycling; re-use boxes and bags for distribution
• All sizes were useful, but there was a big need for bed size quilts (twin, queen, king)
• Request that quilts are clean and new. 
• Ask others to help spread the word and make connections.
• Call around to see who is accepting quilts for those in need.

FOR THOSE LOOKING TO DONATE

Make sure that you are sending your quilts to a place that is asking for them. There is always an enormous influx of donations after natural disasters like this and it's important to make sure that you are sending something that is helpful and needed. For example, don't send a box full of stuffed animals to somewhere like the Red Cross if they are not asking for those kinds of donations. Even if you feel like it's a great donation, it can be a waste of time, resources and space if you send something that is not actually needed at that time. If you plan to donate something like a quilt, make sure that you are sending to to someone who is asking for bedding donations (like a Quilt Drive). 

As previously mentioned, if you plan to donate a quilt, you'll want to make sure it's unused and clean for health and hygiene purposes. Most people on the receiving end do not have the means to do any sort of laundry. 

Also be sure to measure your quilt, label it and put it in some sort of bag. We used giant zip loc bags, trash bags or anything similar. We used a Sharpie to write the relative size of the quilt, which was helpful for distribution centers to sort.

If you have extra plastic bags, consider sending those in with your quilt donation. I know we were always SO appreciative when someone sent any extra bags that they had because we were able to use those for quilts that weren't already packaged. 

Feel free to include a note with your quilt. We made sure the notes stayed with the quilts and we know they were a big encouragement for the recipients. 

Another thing that I took away from this experience is to never underestimate the power of a handmade quilt. It started as a simple desire to keep our neighbors warm. it ended with a much bigger impact that I would have ever imagined. Your quilts not only kept us warm, but they brought so many moments of joy, kindness, care and compassion. When we felt like we were alone and possibly even forgotten, you showed us that together, we will get through. 

I hope that this helps, whether you are looking to organize a quilt drive or looking to donate your beautiful and precious quilt to such an important cause. Thanks for reading. ❤️

Current Quilt Drives for Southern California:

• Sew Colorful
• Shaadee Mae
• San Diego Sewn & Pasadena Quilt Co.
• Threads of Hope
• Wrap the World with Quilts