On Sunday Sept. 14 the Hyattsville Mennonite Church blessed 91 quilts made by its members over the course of a year and a half. The group met every Wednesday, sharing food and stories while quilting together donated squares of fabric into vibrant comforters.
“We meet to make Comforters, continuing a tradition of generations of Mennonites who have made Comforters for people in need around the world,” said Larry Miller, a member of the quilting group at the blessing.
The quilts were on display Sunday, hanging from the walls and resting on the pews.
They will be sent to the Mennonite Central Committee Distribution Center in Ephrata, PA, this Wednesday. According to Eva Beidler, an artist in the group who spoke at the blessing, the MCC is a North American relief service and peace agency that distributed over 39,000 hand-made comforters to communities in need last year. Quilts went to families in Canada, the US and Puerto Rico, Palestine, Ukraine, Malawi and Zambia.
The Hyattsville Mennonite Church is a small church off of East-West Highway in Hyattsville. Its service on the day of the blessing readings from Anabaptist history, youth-led performances and harmonious singing of songs from all different lands and languages.
Sunday’s service featured songs in both German and Swahili, as well as English.
“It is a big umbrella, ‘y’all come’ kind of congregation,” said member and founder of the quilting group, Saundra Plett.
At the service, church members shared stories and updates from their personal lives, and shared a meal together afterwards at their monthly potluck.
The quilting group was born from Plett’s memories as a child watching her mother and grandmothers quilt comforters for MCC.
In part because she was looking for a project to occupy her time after the tragic passing of her husband, she committed to making a few. After she asked a few other members of the church if they wanted to help, the group was born.
“It just kind of coalesced,” she said when explaining the group’s growth.
The Sept. 14 blessing ceremony honored not only those who met every Wednesday for quilting; but also those who donated fabric or money, threaded needles, shopped for supplies or helped cut fabric pieces.
Typically, the group would make comforters by sewing an 8 foot by 8 foot layer of donated square patches together, placing it on top of a layer of cotton batting before finally placing a sheet of fabric under the batting and sewing it to the patch layer. They then run and tie strings through the comforter that keep the entire thing together.
People take different roles in the process, from cutting the patches, to sewing them to tying the strings.
“We’ve gotten a good idea of what everyone can do,” said Beidler, who paints watercolors professionally.
Eva’s husband, John Swarr, is another contributor to the quilting group. Although not present at every meeting, he drove Eva to each and every one and helped set up the quilts in the church for the blessing on Sunday.
Both spoke about how joyful and fun the quilting group meetings are for everyone who comes. They said they were grateful that the group gives them time to get closer as a church and community, while also making something that will help others in the process.
“It isn’t just for us,” Swarr said, “it’s for people who have a need.”
Both Beidler and Swarr have been in the Hyattsville community for over 50 years, working with Anabaptist and Mennonite groups to help turn their faith into action.
Senior pastor Cindy Lapp, who has been involved in the church for 40 years, explained how part of the joy in this project is finding ways for everyone to contribute. She herself helped tie knots and spoke with group members at meetings, recalling how each person’s presence brought value to the project.
“It’s a really concrete way for people to live out their faith,” Lapp said about the comforters and those who helped make them.
Kyla Hanington, a member of the church who spoke following the blessing, said was able to participate in one of the quilting group meetings. She said that this particular project is especially meaningful for her, as she has experience raising children as a single mother in difficult times.
“I know what it’s like to not have a blanket,” said Hanington.
In a follow-up interview she spoke about how something as simple as a blanket can go so far in someone’s mind if they are struggling. She spoke about how the comforter fulfills the physical need for warmth but also a spiritual need to feel cared for and considered.
“I wanted to make sure people realized that this is not an abstraction,” she said when talking about the real change these comforters bring, “this is going to people and it is going to bring real comfort to their lives.”
