Local quilters are helping the California Nutrition Center acquire new equipment.
The Bookworm Quilters are a group of eight to 10 women who craft special Quilts of Valor for active military and veterans. While working on a quilt at the nutrition center, they learned about the organization's laundry problem. Judy Scott, Quilts of Valor coordinator for the Bookworm Quilters, said nutrition center volunteers frequently lugged bags of rags, towels and other linens home for laundry.
"Some of the volunteers are taking the laundry home and doing it each week," she said. "They said for some of the ladies it's quite a load."
In response, the quilters started working on another project -- this time crafting a quilt to help raise the funds needed to purchase a washing machine and dryer for the center.
The 84-by-102-inch, 100 percent cotton quilt will be auctioned at 7 p.m. tonight before the rodeo in the main arena at the Moniteau County Fairgrounds. Scott said part of the proceeds will go toward the nutrition center for the washer and dryer purchase, while the remainder will benefit Quilts of Valor.
Scott added the quilt took about three weeks to make with additional help from Annunciation Catholic Church and Salem Baptist Church visitors. A statement detailing the quilt said Scott, along with Sally Vogel and Roberta Rothstein, helped select the pieces for the project.
Other quilters who worked on the project included: Darlene Matthews, Mary Haldiman, Rita Rippee, Jo Ann Bestgen, Bev Kleffner, Sharon Elder, Dorothy Hise, Pam Zimmerman and Joyce Crook.
California Nutrition Center administrator Kim Drummond said the center previously used a linen service, but volunteers took over laundry when prices of the service started increasing.