The Community Quilt

Community Quilt

If you’ve ever moved to a new community you know it can be tricky to find your way. That is, to find your way to the best supermarket, to find a good family doctor, to find the best place to live, and, most importantly, to find community.

This past summer at Glocally Connected’s ESL Summer Program, we started to create a quilt. Each child was given a 5 x 5 square swatch of fabric and a marker. They were given quite a bit of creative freedom but were asked to share what peace meant to them or to draw something that symbolized each of them. Soon images of birds, hearts, happy stick figures and the flag of Afghanistan were produced. We started pinning these mismatched and colorful images together.

Next, the moms started making their swatches. Messages such as “ I love peace” and “I love Afghanistan and America” were written on the colorful pieces. Then, our volunteers and the organizations supporting Glocally Connected added their part to the quilt.

At our Annual Peace Walk we invited community members to share their message or image and the quilt grew. The following weekend, at the launch party for “A Taste of Afghanistan” at the Riverside Art Museum, 2 large quilts were hung. The newcomers were pleased to see them and to see how they fit into of a much larger community.

The quilts celebrate our diverse and beautiful community. They will continue to grow and remind us of what it means to be a part of this community. We hope that you will be a part of it too!