For 23 years one volunteer has quietly been behind the scenes helping to create more than 8,000 quilts and blankets for those in need in Prince George.
Once Colleen Robert finished with work, to keep busy she turned to a quilting group that worked out of the Salvation Army.
"I was just looking for something else to do other than volunteer at the school," said Robert. "So when I started with the quilting group I just never stopped."
About 35 women would gather as a group and while some women would cut up the material in different sizes Robert would sew the material together to create a quilt.
The original group dissolved after 17 years.
"Since then I have found other places that need my work," said Robert, who sews at home now.
Robert volunteers with the Bags of Love that stems from the program It's My Very Own. The local chapter is a faith-based non-profit organization through the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Bags of Love addresses the immediate needs of displaced children in northern B.C. When children are removed from their homes by child protective services it can be very traumatic for the child and they usually are taken abruptly with only the clothes they are wearing. Bags of Love provides grooming items, pajamas and slippers, books, stuffed animals, educational toys, and a handmade quilt at the bottom of the bag. Since the program began locally in 2008, more than 800 Bags of Love have been distributed through the Ministry of Children and Family Development in the north.
"Irena brings me all the material and I just put everything together," said Robert about local Bags of Love organizer Irena Lipovszky. "It's all just beautiful stuff and I just cut it all up, do a design and sew it together. Irena even brings me the batting and needles. Then when I'm done I just give a call and she picks them all up."
Robert has recently started to make quilts for the Salvation Army again with material donated by friends and neighbours she deems more suitable for adults.
"I sew the children's blankets with the material that's soft and has cartoony images like dogs or cats on them," said Robert. She will use more hearty material like pieces of denim and sweatshirts for quilts and blankets for adults. The big quilts are donated to the Salvation Army to hand out to those in need or sold to help support the Salvation Army's efforts, explained Robert.
"I don't do anything fancy - I don't do any of those tiny little stitches or anything, I just sew them all together," she said, as her modesty takes over.
Robert donates her quilts to many different non-profit organizations that raffle off her work.
"I like doing that because it helps everybody," said Robert.
Robert has a hard time being acknowledged for her individual efforts.
"It's not just me - there are a lot of volunteers out there," she said. "I'm just one small part of it."
Flip through The Citizen's Volunteer City series, featuring stand-out volunteers in Prince George:
