Ministry sews to bring comfort
CRANBERRY TWP — If comfort can be measured in blankets, then the Comfort Blanket Ministry of St. Ferdinand Roman Catholic Church, 2535 Rochester Road, has provided plenty of it.
Barbara McCarthy, pastoral associate at the church and founder of the group, estimated by the end of January the group has produced more than 9,000 blankets in its almost 14-year existence.
The group's 70 members meet from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Wednesday at the church from September to June to craft blankets from decorated squares of fabric. Members also prepare the squares or sew the blankets at home to bring in to the group for assembly.
McCarthy said the ministry will be 14 years old in April.
“I started it. The reason I started it was one of the parishioners was ill at the time, and we wanted to show our care and love for her. So, I asked the parishioners to decorate a square in honor of her,” said McCarthy.
“Sewing the blanket together, it came to me: it would be wonderful to reach other people in the community who might be suffering,” said McCarthy.
les are set up, you sit with the same group,” said Caffall.
In April 2002, she invited the women of St. Ferdinand to create the 9-inch squares that make up a blanket.By January 2003, the ministry members started sewing the blankets together and they have been doing so every since.A Lenten display of the blankets in the church is what brought Nancy Somers of Cranberry Township to the blanket ministry 13 years ago.“The blankets were up as part of a Lenten display from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost Sunday,” said Somers, who joined and now functions as sort of an overseer of the blanket workshop that meets in one of the church's multipurpose rooms.Working 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. one day a week for nine months a year at the church and cutting and decorating squares and sewing blankets at home, the 70 members of the ministry have created blankets to be given to people in need.“The room's set up into different sections,” said Somers. “One area is for stencils, markers and embroidery of squares. Another is acrylic painting, another is cutting out fabric. We also lay out and design the blankets.”“I do the printing on the squares and help lay things out,” said Natalie Caffall of Cranberry Township.“I'm also in charge of the wedding blankets. I coordinate with the priests to make sure blankets are available for the weddings,” Caffall said, who's been involved in the ministry for the past 13 years.
“We also make wedding blankets for parishioners. Those aren't counted as part of the 9,000,” said McCarthy.“We don't sew the blankets at the workshops. We sew them at home. Some work on squares and blankets daily,” Somers said.The blankets are 42 inches by 42 inches and the squares are 9 inches, Somers said. Twenty-five squares, eight of them illustrated, make up a blanket.“To make a blanket it passes through as many as 20 hands,” said Somers.“The blankets go to people who are struggling, facing illnesses or difficulty,” McCarthy said.The group also makes patriotic blankets that are sent to soldiers and funeral blankets.Parishioners just have to ask for a blanket, McCarthy said.“There's a lot of socializing,” said Somers. “We are collaborating and gotten to be wonderful friends. So many other ministries are represented here.”“There's a lot of camaraderie between the women. The way the tables are set up, you sit with the same group,” said Caffall.
