Looking back and moving forward

What a wonderful year for all the children and others who were comforted by Wrap-A-Smile quilts. One thousand and twenty eight quilts were donated to us by quilters from all over the country, and all have been delivered to the volunteer medical teams of Rotaplast, Alliance for Smiles and Faces of Hope.

While we always tally the number of quilts, the real number is the number of people we help.  One thousand and twenty eight individuals, plus their families and communities, touched by the work we do. Touching souls and creating immeasurable international goodwill.  Heartfelt thanks to everyone who made this effort possible!

As a reminder of why our founder Terry Fullam was inspired to start Wrap-A-Smile, I would like to show some "before and after" photos of the children who have been treated.  These all-volunteer medical teams truly change lives.  Our quilts are the frosting on the cake.

Young boy, Rotaplast photo

Young girl, Rotaplast photo

Over 300 of this year's total came from members of the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild. What a generous and productive group they are! We still receive quilts made by quilters who joined the WAS project at its inception, 19 years ago, and this year we made many new quilting friends as well.  We are so grateful to ALL who have contributed in one way or another.

I am also thankful for Regional Coordinators Valerie Edwards and Charlotte Meade in California, both of whom finish, gather and personally deliver quilts.  Val is a past volunteer for Rotaplast so looks forward to driving carloads of quilts to their headquarters in San Francisco. Charlotte, a past volunteer with Alliance for Smiles, enjoys her deliveries to AFS, also in San Francisco.  (Plus in their spare time they make their own quilts!  Special friends.)

In celebration of this past year I am reposting a few of the very happy images that were shared earlier. 

Looking ahead:

Our primary goal is to make sure that every patient treated by these Rotary-related medical teams is cuddled with a quilt at the time of their surgery.  To accomplish this we will be looking for more speaking opportunities and will be visiting more quilting guilds and quilt shows.  In addition there are plans to start offering kits of simple design, for no charge, to attract new quilters.

AND, we are on a serious quest to find additional regional coordinators around the country. Please reply below for more information about joining us.  

"Quilter or not, we've got a spot".... for you!!  

Come join our fun!