What Saying Yes Can Look Like- Part 2 The Quilts for Youth Project

Last time I shared about how I joined this Kite Project my friend Rae was doing. You can get caught up by going here for part 1 of the story.

Ok, so I made the decision to start and finish a quilt, right? But at the same time I was reading about how May is Foster Care Awareness month (remember that post) and I came across this video that my friend Debi (who is in a writing/blogging group that I’m a part of) posted. This video introduced me to an organization called ReGenesis Rising that works with young people who are transitioning out of the foster care system. Now, I confess I have a heart for kids in foster care. I think everyone deserves to have a family to love and care for them but sadly that’s not the reality. If we didn’t already have a full house, I would love to take in more kids to love on but I don’t think that’s what God has planned for us, at least not this “season” of our lives. And it breaks my heart to think that kids are “aging out” of foster care with no family support or guidance. I wanted to do SOMETHING.

So it got me thinking what if I could somehow combine my Kite Project goal of making a quilt and maybe make a second one to giveaway to a young person transitioning out of foster care? And then I thought what if I could get every quilter I know and they got every quilter they know and so on and ALL of us made just one quilt each for a transitioning foster youth? Could this work?

And so I did what I usually do when I get a “great” idea. I ran it by other people. Wise people, AKA I seek out “counsel”. I presented the idea to my husband, he liked it. I mentioned it to a few other people I trust, they liked it. I ran it by the owner of my local quilt shop to see what she thought. She LOVED it and offered to keep the quilts at the shop until I was ready to give them away. It seemed like God was telling me I needed to move forward with this. So I did. . .

I contacted ReGenesis Rising and also another organization here in the Bay Area and offered to send quilts to their residents, and they were so grateful and happy to accept. I’m now in the process of contacting others and getting quilt donations. And so begins The Quilts for Youth Project. It’s still a work in progress. It’s just a small thing. But it’s something.

*I’ll be taking a short break from the series but will continue with Part 3 next week.