Giving back to the community has been an essential part of our business plan since we opened our doors in September of 2015, and here is list of what we have accomplished so far:
The Road Home Program at Rush Hospital is dedicated to the mental health and wellness of veterans, service members, members of the National Guard, reservists and families. In November of 2022, TQT raffled off a quilt to benefit the Road Home. We collected $1,200. In addition, we have held 3 pillowcase making events for the program, where volunteers sewed more than 350 pillowcases using fabric donated by TQT.
In 2022, TQT held its first pillowcase and scent cloth making event to support Comer Children’s Hospital. Pillowcases help brighten the stays of young patients at Comer. Scent cloths are small fabric items that help NICU babies bond with their parents during their early separation. TQT donated the fabric and use of our sewing machines for the event. In total, our amazing sewing community made 90 pillowcases and 150 scent cloths.
TQT holds drives to make heart shaped pillows for breast surgical patients at South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest and Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn. We created supply kits and made a free pattern available. As usual, our amazing sewing community really responded. During our first drive in May 2021, we collected 329 pillows. For our second drive in March 2022, we collected 470!
Breast cancer research is a cause near and dear to so many of us. In October 2021, one of our customers, Dawn, and her woodworker son, Sam, donated a beautiful hardwood quilting caddy that Sam created. TQT sold raffle tickets to win the caddy. We collected nearly $750 in ticket sales, which TQT matched. In May of 2023, Sam donated 3 beautiful hardwood quilt hanging racks made by his late father Alan. Those were raffled off, and we collected nearly $850. In total, we made a donation of over $2,300 to the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation.
Face Masks for medical personnel, first responders and seniors. During the Coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020, TQT was closed. But there was a huge demand for face masks. In conjunction with the 19th Ward Alderman’s office, TQT gave away enough fabric to make 6,100 masks. We served as a drop off collection site for our generous and talented sewing community making masks for others. Thousands of masks were collected and donated to medical personnel, first responders and seniors in the area.
In the Fall of 2019, TQT held a sewing event to make drain pump aprons and heart shaped pillows for breast surgical patients at OSF Hospital (Little Company of Mary Hospital). TQT created the patterns and provided free kits and the use of sewing machines to volunteer sewists. We delivered dozens of aprons and pillows to the Breast Cancer unit at OSF. We have free patterns available for both projects at the shop.
On an on-going basis, TQT collects quilts and pillowcases which are donated to various organizations. Since we opened, we have donated nearly four dozen quilts and more than 150 pillowcases to organizations that provide shelter and support to families that are victims of domestic violence. In addition, we donate shop samples for worthy organizations for silent auction items.
Operation Help-A-Hero. In June 2016, the city of Chicago held a drive to collect household items for veterans transitioning out of homelessness. TQT donated 8 handmade quilts and more than 70 pillowcases to this wonderful cause.
TQT created fabric ribbons which were used in a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new domestic violence shelter that opened in our community in 2016. The fabric was then re-purposed into curtains for the shelter.
Choose Kind Chicago. In October 2015, TQT challenged our customers to create a quilt block to be included in special commemorative quilts as part of Choose Kind Chicago, an anti-bullying event inspired by the book “Wonder”. We had such a wonderful response that we were able to create quilts for both the author of “Wonder”, RJ Palacio, and Mary Kate Lynch, the driving force behind Choose Kind.