Kent: Warner Robins church donates quilts to Methodist Children's Home

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints presented 14 quilts to the Methodist Children's Home in Macon. The members represented seven congregations in the Georgia Macon Mission of the LDS church.

Alicia Callahan, a member of the Warner Robins congregation, said that the Relief Society -- the woman's organization at the church -- is always looking for community service projects to benefit others. One of the members lives next door to the CEO of the Methodist Children's Home, and she suggested the quilt project to the Relief Society.

"Once a month, the Relief Society has a work night where we laid out and cut out, and then members would get together and finish the quilts. A lot of people ride by the Children's Home and maybe don't realize how much heartache is there, but this is a small something that can be done to help a child," Callahan said.

Alesha Mathis, coordinator of marketing and public relations at the Methodist Children's Home, said that the majority of children residing there come through a court order or Division of Family and Children Services placement.

"They have often suffered abuse and neglect. The quilt they received is often times the first unconditional gift they have received. They get to pick their quilt out with no strings attached," Mathis said.

Since the program's inception in 1981, more than 1,200 quilts have been given to children.

"When a child comes to us, within the first week of being on campus, they go to the CEO's office where she has the quilts. The CEO gets to meet with the child and talk with them, see what their dreams are, and then the child gets to pick out their quilt. These kids come to us with a garbage bag of belongings, sometimes they are told they have 15 minutes to gather their things before being taken out of the home. Having a quilt of their own, forever, is a treasure for them," Mathis said.

Amy Rigdon was the first resident to pick a quilt in 1981 when she was 7 years old. In literature provided by the Children's Home, Rigdon wrote about her experience of receiving a quilt.

"No sharing. No giving back. No giving up something that was truly our own. Just think, it is a gift for me made by someone's mom, grandma, aunt and sister or possibly even an uncle, grandfather, father or brother. Imagine how powerful that statement is to someone who is not living with their mom and dad. To this day, whenever I use my quilt, I think, "Wow someone loved me enough to invest their time and energy into this quilt."

Organizations or individuals that would like to make and donate quilts are encouraged to do so. Call the Methodist Children's Home in Macon for more information.

Alline Kent can be contacted at allinekent@cox.net or 396-2467.

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Kent: Warner Robins church donates quilts to Methodist Children's Home ."