Making Colorful Sleeping Bags for Connecticut's Homeless

CLINTON---Loyal volunteers have gathered in the basement of the United Methodist Church on the last Saturday of October, which is Make a Difference Day, for 20 or 25 years to make sleeping bags for homeless folks in Connecticut.

Even before this idea of making warm bedding went national, the Clinton Methodists started holding their quilting bees. Most years, they have finished seven or even eight of the bags. October 26, with a small but merry band, they made 5, gathering in a circle to bless each one as it was completed, with the Roll Up Prayer:

Lord, take the word of our hand and bless it; and in

Thy Name let the person who receives this gift

know that he or she is loved. Amen.

Flo Wheatley and her then 14 year old son Leonard of Pennsylvania are credited in 1979 with starting what has been referred to as Ugly Quilt groups. The Wheatleys were in NYC, because Leonard needed medical care. A homeless man helped them carry their bags onto the train between Manhattan and Queens. When they parted, he simply said, "Don't abandon me." Flo was haunted by his words, and that night, using old clothing, she made the first Ugly Quilt sleeping bag. Inspired by this story, Ugly Quilt groups were founded all over the country.

Clinton's Methodists, joined by parishioners from the United Church of Christ/First Church in Clinton and St Paul and St. James of New Haven crafted the colorful bags all day Saturday, taking only one break for a simple potluck lunch.

One observer noted that her 8 year old grandson had questioned the name UGLY, saying, "Why don't you call the quilts something nicer, like Rainbow?"

Looking at the colorful bags soon to be delivered to the Eddy Emergency Shelter for the homeless in Middletown for distribution, those gathered had to agree. Donating homemade "Rainbow Quilts" conveys a much more hopeful spirit.