Material Assets

Photograph by Michael McDermott, for The Chronicle

Nothing shows caring like a handmade gift. That’s the idea behind Quilts from Caring Hands, a charity in Corvallis, Ore. The charity’s 40 volunteers design and make quilts, stuffed toys, and quilted activity books for blind children, which they donate to needy youngsters or those with disabilities through nine social-service organizations in Oregon. Teenage mothers also receive quilts as gifts for their babies, while nursing-home residents are often given lap quilts.

“It is our hope that the love and care stitched into each quilt will be felt by the recipients,” says June Nielsen, who founded Caring Hands 10 years ago. The group makes about 250 quilts a year, she says.

Members, who range in age from 40 to 92, design and piece together the quilt tops in their homes. Every Wednesday, they gather in a room they rent at a local church to display finished tops and complete the quilts. “People come and go throughout the day,” Ms. Nielsen says. “The atmosphere is cheerful, with members giving hugs and sharing news about their lives, things like how their grandchildren are doing.”

The group’s $7,000 budget, which pays for renting the space and buying backing and batting for the quilts, is mostly drawn from the social-service organizations that distribute the quilts. Caring Hands also sells baby quilts and repairs antique quilts to earn money. Local residents donate fabric to make the tops of the quilts. The volunteers keep the quilts bright and cheerful, using lots of primary colors and avoiding prints of sharp or scary objects.

To create toys that children with limited sight would enjoy, Caring Hands makes items with a mix of textured fabrics, such as fur, corduroy, satin, and velveteen. Here, Joshua Benson, who has cerebral palsy, relaxes on a stuffed toy.