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Villa
St. Joseph residents share 'comfort' through handiwork
 Residents
of Villa St. Joseph are providing warmth and comfort to the
sick, elderly and others in the form of handcrafted blankets
through a ministry partnership with St. Ferdinand Church in
Cranberry Township.
In March,
residents began decorating 8-by-8-inch fabric squares with
personalized messages of hope and faith, which will be sewn
into a lap blanket for someone in need. The blankets are a
ministry of St. Ferdinand Parish in Cranberry, and serve as
symbols of prayer, love and compassion.
"This
is a nice service project for residents of the Villa that
also brings an important mission to light," said Activities
Director Tammy Tackac, who has turned the blanket project
into a monthly activity for residents.
Tackac
said residents are eager to help and enjoy the opportunity
to be creative. "You can see their entire attitude change
when they're working on the blankets; they're so cheerful."
Villa
residents’ involvement began when Activity Assistant
Debbie Hostutler was shopping at Jo Ann Fabrics and began
chatting with another customer who happened to be a volunteer
at St. Ferdinand.
 According
to a church pamphlet, the Comfort Blanket Ministry began in
2002 when a member of the parish entered a nursing home. The
woman was feeling down because her failing health prevented
her from participating in church activities, so several members
took squares of material, wrote personal messages on them
and sewed the squares into a blanket.
Soon,
the church had 6,000 decorated squares and members were meeting
every Tuesday to share stories and sew, said Barb McCarthy,
director of the Comfort Blanket Ministry at St. Ferdinand’s.
Today,
more than 1,000 blankets have been completed. They have been
sent to Mexico, Iraq and many other homes around the country;
to flood victims and patients at Children's Hospital —
"wherever someone needs to know God's love is with them,"
McCarthy said.
©2008
Sisters of St Joseph - Baden
Villa St. Joseph
1030 State
Street, Baden PA 15005
724.869.6300 | Fax: 724.869.6399
Feedback, questions and comments are welcomed at csjprbah@stargate.net
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