SUPPLEMENTAL AND RELATED MATERIALS
The Welcome Quilt Toolkit
In addition to containing all the information needed to create Welcome Squares and Welcome Quilts, the Toolkit contains many empathy-based activities. This project can act as a vehicle to facilitate investigation and reflection on the whole topic of immigration, leading to a variety of forms of positive activism. A comprehensive set of lesson plans and activity ideas has been developed for just this purpose by Gale Hall. She designed activities for a range of ages and a wide variety of settings. These activities can be used in conjunction with making quilt squares, making Welcome Quilts, and/or with exhibits, but can also be used separately.
Contact us if you would like us to send you the Toolkit.
Downloadable signs to display next to Welcome Quilts (Exhibit Interaction Feedback and Information signs)
If you have created a Welcome Quilt (or quilts!) for your community, you can download a digital file to create signs for posting next to your quilts. One sign tells the purpose of the quilts and asks for feedback. The other sign explains what the fabrics mean.
Some feedback from a quilt displayed on Long Island: “Thank you for the heartwarming Welcome Quilt in Harborfields Library. The sentiments are so beautiful and I loved seeing it proudly displayed.“
Two-sided flyer with an overview of the project and instructions on how to create quilt squares
EDUCATIONAL HANDOUT
There are digital files we can share with you to print a well-researched handout about immigration, containing important information in an engaging activity format to accompany exhibits. They were designed for the Arizona History Museum Exhibit by Voices from the Border and are available from the Welcome Quilt Project. Download this 11” x 17” handout Here.
If you contact us we can help you customize these for your specific use.
THE STORY OF THE WELCOME QUILTS
The story begins with something very familiar to quilters, making quilts for children.
In the fall of 2018, four quilters in Oracle, Arizona, were moved by the stories of children and families, mainly from Central America, seeking asylum in the United States. These families, often fleeing violence, poverty, and climate change, arrived with little more than the clothes on their backs. After being released by Customs and Border Protection to pursue their asylum claims, they were taken to a non-profit welcome center in Tucson, where they could rest, rehydrate, eat, wash up, get a change of clothes, care for their children, and stay for the night if needed. Volunteers helped them contact their sponsors and arrange transportation.
The quilters asked the director of the welcome center if quilts for the children would be welcomed. She immediately responded, “Yes!”
The story continues through twists and turns to become a unique movement, involving people across the country, in support of those who have immigrated, recently or many years ago.
You can download the full story of the Welcome Quilts Here.
Two talks:
Gale Hall, originator of the Welcome Quilt idea
India Aubry, Voices from the Border
These two talks, given at the opening of the Arizona History Museum Exhibit can be viewed to get a fuller understanding of the history of the Welcome Quilt Project, who the Partners are, and how they see their mission. These talks can be viewed to supplement the other materials on this website to learn more about the project.