Nov. 21, 2005

Contact: Gordon Ovenshine: 724-738-4854; gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu

SRU QUILTERS STITCH FOR HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS

            SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – “Many of them don’t have anything, and this will give them something warm to snuggle up in,” says Jean Wanchick, organizer of a Slippery Rock University quilting guild working to aid Hurricane Katrina victims.

 Twelve members of SRU’s Institute for Learning in Retirement Quilt Guild are sewing three quilts for distribution by the American Red Cross to hurricane victims living in the Mississippi area. Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August, killing an estimated 1,300, displacing thousands and causing billions in property damage.

As winter and the holidays approach, the on-going spectrum of suffering prompted the local response, Wanchick says. “We know that when people get a place to live or sleep, they’re not going to have much else,” she said.

The women expect to complete the twin-size quilts with red, white and blue squares in a week.  They’re stitching “made at Slippery Rock University” on the back.

The quilters live in Slippery Rock, Mercer, Renfrew, Butler and Sandy Lake.

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