photo by Geri McShane

Local church members hold quilts tied for Children’s Vision International. In the front row, from left, are Lois Hankins, Stan Hankins and Judy Werner of Our Father’s House. In the second row are Esther Larsen of Our Father’s House, Pat Draayer of First Baptist of Clarks Grove, Arlene Galagan of Central Freeborn, Ione Kelly of First Lutheran, Sharon Morreim of Central Freeborn and Linda Heideman of Central Freeborn. In back are Ruth Thompson of Central Freeborn, Brandon Hanson of A-Best Sew & Vac (designed the logo), Marlys Jentoft of Our Father’s House, Jeanene Reese of First Baptist, Tena DeBoer of First Baptist, Sheila Colby of Our Father’s House, Julia Tonder of First Lutheran, Audrey Romer of Central Freeborn, Audrey Christensen of First Lutheran, Anna Oberg of First Lutheran, Mary Lee Thompson of Central Freeborn, Ardell Anderson of First Lutheran and Stephanie Harmon of First Lutheran.

Tied with love

Church groups tie blankets for Colombian children

By Geri McShane | Albert Lea Tribune

Published Saturday, July 25, 2009

Some 100 children in Bogota, Colombia, will be getting the warmest kind of holiday wishes from members of Freeborn County churches.

Quilting groups and individuals from Our Father’s House, First Lutheran Church of Albert Lea, First Baptist Church of Clarks Grove, Central Freeborn Lutheran Church and Crossroads Evangelical Free Church tied 115 fleece blankets to be sent to Children’s Vision International, a rescue agency that takes in homeless children off the streets of Bogota. The blankets were finished this week and taken to Bangor, Wis., where they will be shipped in a container in September to Colombia, and hopefully arrive by Christmas.

The blankets were the brainchild of Judy Werner of Our Father’s House. “It’s always been been dream to do these blankets,” said fellow church member Lois Hankins. Werner donated much of the fabric for the blankets. The rest of the material was donated by local churches.

Lois and her husband Stan have been making trips to Bogota since 1996.

Stan Hankins explained that the Freeborn County area got involved with Children’s Vision International when the founder, Jeanene Thicke Sanderson, contacted her college roommate, Kathy Quinn of Albert Lea, and asked if she could speak to local churches about the children’s home she was setting up. Today, 100 children live there.

“Many churches have helped her,” said Lois Hankins. “It’s a nondenominational children’s home.

The children have no homes; their mothers are usually prostitutes or drug addicts, Lois Hankins said.

Women at Our Father’s House cut and pinned two pieces of fabric together for each blanket.

Each blanket has a logo, designed by Brandon Hanson of A-Best Sew & Vac, which was embroidered by Werner and Sue Westrum of Crossroads Church. The logo features three children and a place for each child to write his name.

Once the embroidery was on, Esther Larsen of Our Father’s House got the blankets to the different churches for the quilting groups to tie.

“It’s been a wonderful coordination of all the churches helping,” said Lois Hankins.

Audrey Romer is a member of the group at Central Freeborn Lutheran Church that gets together to tie quilts weekly. They tied quilts for Children’s Vision International in June, July and August.

“We thoroughly enjoyed it,” Romer said.

One day, they tied 22 of them, just to make this week’s deadline. “We knew it was going to a good cause,” she said.

Lois Hankins said churches have sent more than just blankets to CVI. Churches have also sent doll blankets, diapers, toothpaste, clothing, garbage bags, Ziploc bags and more, Lois Hankins said.

Children’s Vision International recently opened a four-story school, built by the Colombian people with American money. Another 50 homeless children from outside Bogota attend the school.

Jeanene Thicke Sanderson, a native of Wisconsin, comes back to the Midwest each spring and fall to raise funds for her work by speaking at churches and to other organizations. Stan Hankins said it costs $50,000 per month to run the children’s home.

Lois Hankins said if there are enough blankets, some will be distributed to the graduates of Children’s Vision International. A few more blankets may be sent each year, as children’s graduate, she added.

For more on Children’s Vision International, go to www.childrensvision.org.

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