Giving help to those in need is often a thankless job but not so for Jean Thurston and the women in her quilting group.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The generous spirit of the group has already seen over 100 quilts make their way to flood victims in Queensland.
Mrs Thurston met a couple visiting Dubbo from the flood affected area in Queensland earlier in the year who volunteered to take a batch of the quilts home to distribute to those in need.
“I wasn’t sure I trusted the couple to do what they said, but the woman produced a card showing she was a member of her local quilters club so we agreed and loaded their ute up with the quilts in garbage bags to keep them rain-proof,” she said.
Three days later and true to their word, Mrs Thurston received an email saying the couple had delivered the first 40 and were planning the next drop off.
“It’s been amazing, I have received so many emails and so many thank-yous from all these people,” she said.
Soon after Mrs Thurston received an emotional phone call from Brian Morris from Postman’s Ridge in Queensland; a recipient of one of the group’s quilts.
“We were on the phone for 11 minutes and I think Brian broke down three times while we spoke,” she said.
He went on to tell Mrs Thurston that he and wife Sandy would be visiting Dubbo over the long weekend and was hoping for a chance to thank the quilters in person.
Sharing a morning tea behind Mrs Thurston’s Talbragar street shop, Mr and Mrs Morris tell the women of the helplessness of watching their hobby farm animals stranded in the flood waters.
It’s clearly still an emotional issue for them to discuss.
“Most of the animals escaped, they ended up floating over the fences and getting to higher ground,” Mrs Morris said. Mrs Morris explains how their community reacted to the gifts from the Dubbo group.
“Receiving the quilt makes you very emotional, all you want to do is cry,” she said, adding that their situation was not as bad as some families who lost homes and lives in the devastation,” she said.
“It was important for us to call through Dubbo and say thank you to these ladies, it means so much to all those people who received these gifts.”
The quilting group is touched that the couple took the time to visit and say thanks and are sending the last 18 quilts and seven blankets back with the couple for distribution.
