When the Glenville First Lutheran Church parsonage needed roof repairs, member Esther Nelson had an idea to help. She offered to make a yo-yo pattern quilt and have it raffled off.

Meanwhile, the congregation raised the money for the roof, but there were a number of improvements that needed to be made inside the parsonage. So the raffle went on.

When all was done, members had sold 1,120 $1 tickets.

Audrey Mehus, who coordinated the raffle, said the goal was to beat the total raised by the last quilt Nelson donated to be raffled. That raffle raised $952 for the Glenville Area Women of Today, who used the money to fill tins for the troops over the holidays last year.

Kathy Huston of Albert Lea won the quilt. Her co-worker, Jan Flatness, bought tickets for many of the people she works with.

“I love it,” Huston said of the quilt. “I’ve been looking for a place of honor for it in my home.”

Nelson is now working on her ninth yo-yo quilt. She also makes quilt tops and backs that are donated to the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester after others tie them. She’s made nearly 200 of these 45-by-60-inch quilts.

“Each child gets one,” Nelson said of the people who stay at the Ronald McDonald House.