Quilter raises money for Red Cross

HANDMADE—Connie Hall of Camarillo works on a quilt that now hangs in the lobby of the American Red Cross of Ventura County in Camarillo. Hall, a longtime Red Cross volunteer, is assembling the quilt out of square and rectangular patches with the names of donors or someone the donor wants to recognize. The patches will be sold to raise money for the nonprofit and will range in price from $100 to $1,000. Connie Hall began sewing a queen-size quilt about three months ago to raise money for the Camarillobased headquarters of American Red Cross of Ventura County.

Hall, a 13-year volunteer with the nonprofit organization, has been making quilts for 35 years. When Chris Johnson, Red Cross chief executive officer, came up with the idea of the quilt as a fundraiser and as a way to thank the community for its support, Hall stepped forward to volunteeer her services.

With the help of her 85-year old mother, who visited during the holidays, Hall recently finished the top layer of the quilt, which hangs temporarily in the lobby of the new American Red Cross building in Camarillo.

"The Red Cross does a lot for Ventura County, our community and across the nation," said Hall, 55. "It's just a way I can support the Red Cross . . . and help Ventura County."

Dubbed the Quilt of Caring, it symbolizes the era of the late 1800s, when the Red Cross warmed disaster victims, refugees and others with quilts made by volunteers. The nonprofit emergency relief agency said the quilts were also used in fundraising efforts, especially during wartime.

The quilt will play a practical role for the Red Cross, which has seen donations decline since the recession while the need for emergency relief has increased. People can pay to have their name or the name of someone they'd like to honor sewn on a square of the quilt. Prices range from $100 to $1,000.

All money raised or donated to the American Red Cross of Ventura County stays in Ventura County unless designated otherwise by the donor, said Red Cross spokesperson Maria Sanchez.

It's taken Hall 12 hours to hand sew the top layer of the quilt, and she estimates that it will take another 75 hours of sewing before the quilt will be completed. Hall has to assemble the middle layer of fluff, called batting, and the backing of the quilt, then hand stitch around each square and rectangle through the quilt's three layers.

Sanchez said, "It's just amazing" to think about the amount of time and effort Hall will put into hand stitching the quilt. "She's really an asset—you want to talk about a jewel."

Hall expects to complete the quilt sometime this summer, after which it will be on display in an archival glass case in the lobby of the Red Cross.

All of the $1,000 squares have been sold but more than 200 others are still available and will be on sale through June 30. For more information, call Maria Sanchez of the American Red Cross at (805) 9871514 or visit www.arcventura.org.