Crafters in northern Manitoba, Sask. make quilts for Denare Beach families who lost homes to wildfire
CBC
A group of crafters in northern Manitoba have been making and collecting dozens of quilts to help bring warmth and comfort to hundreds of neighbours who lost their homes to this year's wildfire across the border in Denare Beach.
A wildfire ripped through the northeastern Saskatchewan village in early June, destroying 230 homes.
Since then, the community has been working to rebuild what they lost. Meanwhile, the North Star Quilt Guild, based in Flin Flon — about 20 kilometres away, over the Manitoba border — has been gathering quilts to give to every family that lost a home in the fire.
The guild has teamed up with quilter Christine Bell in The Pas, Man., for the Quilt for Wildfire Relief initiative, which has delivered 54 quilts to the Village of Denare Beach's Seventh Avenue office so far.
"It was very touching" when the first stack of quilts came in, said Denare Beach Coun. Karen Thomson. "It just showed you the best that people can be."
Bags and bags of quilts have passed through the office doors since then, she said — so many that they have started referring to the room where they're kept as "the vault."
"It was something else, the outpouring of love," Thomson said.
Geri Beaton-Walker, who lost her Ninth Avenue home, said she's still in shock, and has struggled to cry since June.
But she was overcome with emotion on Thanksgiving, when she got a call to head to the office and select a quilt.
"It's so thoughtful. I just kind of tear up and I think about it, because I can't believe that anybody did so much work to help us, to give us something that is so beautiful and so useful," said Beaton-Walker.
"I'm very, very thankful for it."
She picked a large, festive quilt with strips of holiday-themed fabric arranged in a log cabin pattern.
"It's so bright and so pretty, and the reverse of it is all poinsettias, and I can have Christmas all year round, really. It's beautiful, absolutely beautiful," she said, adding it was hard to choose a quilt because there were so many lovely options.
Lois Moberly, who lived in a cottage just a street away on Eighth Avenue, said she was drawn to the "deep, rich colours" of the traditional purple quilt she picked. Her quilt came with a tag showing it was made by the Saskatoon Regional Quilters.
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