*Deborah Droke delivers a quilt to a child at Nazareth House*

With generous help from Springs Creative Products Group and Carolina Creative Products, more than 150 beautiful handmade quilts arrived in South Africa last week! Love Quilt Project Board Member Deborah Droke and our longtime South Africa-based volunteer Diana Higgs wrapped children in the warmth and love of these quilts in two locations – Leamogetswe Safety Home in a township outside Pretoria and Johannesburg’s Nazareth House.

Last week marked the third time our quilts have gone to Leamogetswe; our relationship with the Home began in 2016 and our previous delivery took place in 2018, prior to the COVID pandemic. The 32 hand-delivered quilts brought joy and smiles to children that have arrived in Leamogetswe in the last four years and bring the number of Love Quilts donated to the Safety Home to more than 200! This Home provides housing, meals, education, healthcare and a safe environment for children needing a place to thrive. Many of these children have been displaced due to HIV/AIDS.

In Johannesburg, Nazareth House offers a caring and compassionate haven for the most vulnerable members of society, both young and old. Its young residents were filled with glee as they received quilts made with messages of love and support from American children.

Recipients learned how the quilts came to be, received lessons about love and kindness and created art squares with caring messages for American children in return for the gift of their quilt. Many of these South African children do not have any possessions, making the quilts even more meaningful to them. Additionally, 95 Love Quilts will be given to foster children being cared for by Lily of the Valley Children’s Village in South Africa’s coastal Kwazulu-Natal province.

We are so grateful to Springs Creative Products Group and Carolina Creative Products for shipping the quilts to South Africa, to our wonderful quilters for their artistry, and to the organizations and children in the United States that created the messages woven into each of these quilts.

“Two ordinary days becomes extraordinary days when you teach children and give them a Lesson about love and kindness. Yesterday was Leamogetswe and today we gave out Love Quilts to the children at Nazareth House in Johannesburg. They were so excited to meet us. We explained to them they were about to receive a quilt with messages of love from American school children. And in return for this gift they were going to create art squares with messages of love back to American children. Some of these children have never had something of their very own. They were so innocent and so lovely and so thankful…. we all rejoiced in their happiness.

Diana Higgs, you are a star with all the logistics and the driving! Angelique Lennox, Liam Lennox, and Declan Lennox we could not have done it without your help. It has bee a whirlwind between Pretoria & Johannesburg but such priceless moments….”
–Deborah Droke on last week’s delivery of over 300 Love Quilts

LAST WEEK’S QUILT DELIVERIES BRIGHTEN YOUNG LIVES