Above: Pictured are members of the Prairies Star Quilt Guild. The Guild recently completed a service project, sweing quilts for chemo patients.

FAIRMONT — The Prairie Star Quilt Guild has had a busy year when it comes to service projects. Earlier in the year they made a large bunch of masks for as many people as they could. More recently, the guild dedicated their efforts to sewing quilts for chemo patients in Fairmont’s chemo department.

Guild President Carolyn Seidel shares that the project held a special place in the hearts of members.

“We’ve all had friends and relatives, we all seem to know someone who had gone through chemo,” she said. “Because we had actual members themselves having had that experience, that was one of the reasons I chose to do that.”

“I feel that Fairmont’s chemo department is exceptional,” she continued. “I think they go out of their way for their patients and I just thought maybe this was a gentle way of acknowledging them too.”

She noted that, like many others, the group was affected by COVID-19. The virus prevented the group from being able to meet, which is normally enjoyed greatly by members.

“It was a little bit different,” she said. “We normally meet monthly and a lot of times we have demonstrations or a speaker or that type of thing. Not being able to gather as a group, we weren’t able to do that.

“We did communicate by texting and emailing the group, letting them know pertinent things. I tried to text monthly to keep them informed of things that might interest them.

“One month we made over 2,763 masks. We just asked for volunteers and I kept a tally of how many were made. Some of those went to Mayo, some went to individuals, and some went to other towns and nursing homes.

“So that was something that kind of kept us all connected. We also encouraged some of our members, if they had been working on a particular project, to send it to our website so that we could all share that. That helped us keep together as a group too.”

When asked about similar projects in the future, Seidel shares that will be up to the next president.

“Right now we all kind of finished what we set out to do, and we’re all individually working on something. When the new president takes over on the first of January she will come up with another service project that our group can participate in. So she’ll give us a pattern and then we can go from there and use our creativity for whatever project she chooses.

“Those service projects are always given to an organization or group in the county. In the past, we’ve done things for Human Services, CADA (Committee Against Domestic Abuse), and that type of thing. We use our own time, talent, and materials, which is all donated by each individual member.”