MNPS Voices: Judith Meeker, English Teacher

From the Metro Nashville Public Schools:

November 5, 2020

Judith Meeker is in her 16th year as an MNPS English and Language Arts teacher. But she is also teaching compassion for others through her non-profit, More Than Warmth.

Meeker, an itinerant high school English teacher who works with students at The Academy at Old Cockrill, W.A. Bass Learning Center, and the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center, started More Than Warmth in 2002.

The non-profit sends children’s quilts and letters around the world with the goal of providing an educational project for students of all ages to learn about world cultures. The effort fosters understanding, knowledge and compassion among cultures through nonviolent, nonpolitical and nonreligious means.

“I developed this project with my fourth-grade class. I asked them would they open their hearts to children in Afghanistan who were freezing to death during wartime,” Meeker said. “Together, we decided on the concept. It was going to be non-violent, not political and non-religious. It had to be done from the heart.”

Actually, the hardest part of the project for the young scholars was this: How do you show “love” to a stranger in a drawing? Meeker explained to her students that the drawings on the quilt squares were their own individual expressions of love. The squares would then be sewn together to form a quilt of 9 to 12 patches. The children also wrote letters full of care and dignity.

Within six weeks, the first quilts had arrived in Afghanistan at a friendship center, and they were a huge hit. The letters were translated and read to the students. The quilts were displayed at Kabul University, then handed out to children in the hospitals and living on the streets.

Meeker received lots of wonderful feedback. The need was overwhelming. She decided to take a break from teaching and start a non-profit. Her break would last six years.

When she returned to teaching at MNPS, she brought her quilt project with her.

“This project has been shared through all tiers. It is not just for the small kids. My students at Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center have done it, too,” Meeker said. “You want the project to make a difference. This was one of the first times that the students challenged the adults to participate and create quilt squares.”

“The project is very therapeutic,” she added. “Students draw beautiful pictures to find comfort - just like the quilts are comforting for others. Students can draw their own pictures or I can supply them.”

Meeker, a mother of four, is about to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her non-profit and is not stopping yet. The most recent batch of quilts has gone to students in Oregon who are survivors of the recent forest fires.

“Exhibited quilts, made quilts, sometimes it is helpful to do something to help others and open your heart,” Meeker said. “My project inspires people to come up with their own projects if they can find in themselves a way to help others.”

This press release was produced by the Metro Nashville Public Schools. The views expressed are the author's own.