History

Photo courtesy of Rotaplast International

A brief history 

Wrap-A-Smile was started in 2001 by Terry Hodskins of the Rotary Club of Wells, Maine. The name recognizes the fact that a repair of a cleft lip enables a child to truly smile for the very first time. Terry’s inspiration came after seeing the life-changing work of Rotaplast where volunteer teams of health professionals treat up to 100 children during each of their international missions. Seeing these children wrapped in paper hospital drapes, Terry immediately said “we can do better”…. Quilters from all over the US and abroad have responded by providing comfort quilts for every Rotaplast mission.

Terry Hodskins (upper right) with her merry band of quilt labelers

Since the beginning, over 27,000 quilts have now been shared worldwide. The quilts cover the children in the operating room, provide comfort during the healing process, and then go home with the child and their family, commemorating the day that their life changed forever. A visual of 27,000 quilts would be enough to cover 7 football fields!

Photo courtesy of Rotaplast International

Volunteer quilters come in all shapes and sizes: women, men, quilting guilds, youth groups, some made with fancy sewing machines, and some made with a foot treadle. Quilters love to create, and Wrap-A-Smile loves to share them. In addition to Rotaplast, many quilts have also been shared with Alliance for Smiles, a similar Rotary-related volunteer medical project also treating children with cleft anomalies. (Alliance for Smiles is not currently collecting quilts so for now all quilts collected will be dedicated to Rotaplast missions.) Wrap-A-Smile has proven to be an excellent people-to-people goodwill ambassadorial project.

Starting June 1, 2018, Wrap-A-Smile is now managed by Dr. Ann Demeranville of the Rotary Club of Asheville-South, North Carolina. The need for quilts is ongoing and we are looking for new quilters to join our project and share the love. If you can help, please contact Ann: quilts7780@gmail.com.