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Quilt sewn with hope to find cure for cancer

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published April 28, 2006

Last summer, Janeen Salzgeber was looking for ways to connect with her new neighbors in affluent Wilderness Lake Preserve in Land O'Lakes.

There's a Bible study group, scrapbook group, a knitting group, so why not a quilting group, she figured.

Once the dozen or so members got started, they decided to quilt for a purpose. Why not make a quilt to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

After all, each member of the group knew someone - a family member, a friend or colleague - touched by cancer. Around the same time the quilting group began to meet, a staff employee at Wilderness Lake Preserve found out that he had cancer. Making the quilt took on a deeper meaning.

That quilt will be on display tonight when 80 to 100 cancer survivors join more than 300 caregivers, friends and relatives at Pine View Middle School for a Relay for Life. The quilt will be raffled on Saturday. Janeen and her group are still selling raffle tickets and hope the quilt will raise $2,000 or $3,000 for the effort.

That amount would be a portion of the $15,000 that the Wilderness Lake Preserve Relay for Life team expects to raise for the annual fundraising event.

For team members, cancer isn't just an illness someone else gets. Their team includes Monica Irwin, a 45-year-old mother of two boys, 10 and 13, who was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago. Irwin's mother and father are also cancer survivors. She'll walk tonight to celebrate her victory and all the other victories.

"The love and the support is awesome," she says.

The Land O'Lakes volunteers are also bullish about their fundraising prowess. They expect to surpass their $81,000 goal.

Tonight's activities are among the American Cancer Society sponsored community events being held in Pasco and Hernando counties this weekend.

Relays are also being held in Hudson and Wesley Chapel tonight. Around 500 spectators and participants are expected to gather at Brooksville's Tom Varn Park tonight for the East Hernando Relay for Life. New Port Richey and Trinity, and Lecanto in Citrus County will hold relays in May.

All this walking is for a worthy cause. The patchwork of activities in Pasco and Hernando is expected to raise well over $500,000 for cancer research and programs and services for cancer patients.

But beyond the money raised, Relay for Life events give those touched by cancer and those who know and love them a chance to put their love into action and to celebrate life.

Community fundraising events usually begin with an idea and a desire to get involved, just like those quilters.

Janeen had done four quilts before. She enlisted veteran seamstress Peggy Jones, but like most of the other women who came to the Thursday morning group, Jones had never quilted before. Some didn't even know the basics, like threading a needle or sewing in a straight line.

But somehow, they figured it out. And they had lots of help. About 60 people in all contributed to the quilt. Some husbands helped build the quilting frame; some spouses and children helped design squares on the quilt. They selected from 30 fabrics, including cotton, paisley, batiks, prints, calicoes and hand dyed.

"They learned to listen to the fabric, and you hear the fabric tell you what it wants to be," Janeen says.

The end product is impressive - a 96- by 107-inch quilt with a wilderness theme. An abundance of animals - turtle, fish, birds, rabbits, alligators, dragonflies, trout, butterflies, hawks, cranes, squirrels.

Each group member signed the quilt. At the back is also a printed dedication:

"Every stitch of the quilt represents an honor to cancer survivors, a memory of those no longer with us and a hope for finding a cure."

A quilt, a cure for cancer, no easy task.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at 813 909-4602 or toll free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 28, 2006, 01:16:18]