Local women sewing quilts for Jasper
Quilters get together to make quilts for Jasper families displaced by forest fires
August 6, 2024, 11:22 am
Ashley Bochek
A group of local women got together in Moosomin last week to sew quilts for families in Jasper who have been evacuated from their homes due to the forest fires.
Tanya Cestnick, the organizer of the quilt drive, says she knew she had to help after her daughter was evacuated from her home in Jasper.
“Shirley Kelly helped organize with me after hearing what has been happening in Jasper.”
“My daughter is a park worker in Jasper. She has been evacuated and her house isn’t completely burned, but it is not livable. She worked for another 15 days after the evacuation, helping with food and all sorts of things. I was driving home from my trip to see her because she was being evacuated and knew that I really wanted to help.”
Cestnick says the idea came from a past experience of losing her home in a forest fire.
“We actually lost our house at the time, in Fort McMurray in 2016 to the forest fire there and they had a quilt drive to help the families. My kids got quilts from that drive and just treasure them so I sent out a message to Shirley’s Facebook group and Shirley instantly answered saying, ‘Yes, let’s do it!’ so she got all the ladies together and they were more than happy to help.”
She says her daughter was evacuated and sent to a hotel in Hinton.
“My daughter was evacuated July 13. She is staying in a hotel in Hinton right now. Lots of people have spread out all over Western Canada. I know some are in Edmonton, BC, and Saskatoon, where they have family and friends.
“There was a resort that burned and lots of those people were from elsewhere and they have nowhere to go. Some of them didn’t even have cars for when they were being evacuated. They don’t have any other family in Canada so I am unsure of what they’re doing.”
Want to help
Cestnick says she knew she wanted to help as soon as she heard. “I wanted to help was my main reason, but it is so hard to do something meaningful that you can do from afar and you can’t go there to help because the hotels are full. I wanted to help with quilts because of how amazing it was for my kids when the forest fire happened in Fort McMurray and quilts were handed out. My kids were just so touched and so was I.”
Seeing support for Jasper from all over
Cestnick says she has people reaching out from all over Canada to help make quilts and send to Jasper.
“We are making the quilts for Jasper at Shirley’s Sewing Room and then there are other quilt clubs or individual ladies from Saskatoon and Edmonton who have contacted me saying they have quilts, so I will have to pick them up and organize that when I take them to Jasper. The ladies in Moosomin are going to make quilts until we have one for every family that has lost a home.”
Cestnick says she knew the ladies in Moosomin at Shirley’s Sewing Room would be more than happy to help.
“I am from Saskatoon originally then was in Fort McMurray and then, I moved to Broadview. When I moved here and I didn’t have any friends, I came to Moosomin to sew and the ladies were so welcoming.
“When I posted I wanted to do this, lots of people were asking me about posting a Facebook note publicly for people to share to let others know. There are people from all over sharing it to try and help support as many Jasper families as we can with quilts.”
Cestnick says she hopes to have enough quilts to donate one to every family.
“Celsa, my daughter did a quick count and thinks there are 150 people who have lost their homes and another 100 that are displaced. We would like to try to do one quilt per family and then if we have more, one quilt for every child under 18. We have at least 20 quilts made so far and I have 10 more at home and many other quilt stores involved so I bet we have 40 quilts already, maybe even more.”
Plan to get quilts to Jasper
Cestnick says she plans to pass the quilts along to her daughter to distribute to the families.
“My plan is to get the quilts to my daughter and she will figure out a place to store them in Hinton. Then, she will be in touch with people she knows. It is a fairly close-knit community so she does know lots of people. The mayor even lost his house so she is going to figure out a way we can reach everybody, but that is still being planned.
“There are about 2,000 residents in Jasper. It is big because there are about 15,000 tourists in the summer, but only 2,000 people that live there in the winter, it really cuts down on who lives there. Lots of people have summer houses in Jasper too. So, we are hoping to give quilts to the residents of Jasper who have lost their homes and then if we have more then maybe to the first responders that stayed. There were lots of park staff that stayed right until the end. Some of them didn’t get out and have to stay somewhere else in Jasper. Not all of Jasper burned, only about 30 per cent did.
“It was amazing how much infrastructure they kept from burning. They kept there two schools, waste and water plant, the rec centre, and the park office, so the firefighters were amazing.”
Amazing local support for Jasper
Cestnick says the ladies are supportive of donating to many different fundraising charities.
“I know these ladies and they all have huge hearts and they love to sew. A lot of ladies came out on a hot summer day to sew. I know that people have reached out to my daughter and myself asking, ‘What can we do to help?’ and then this came together in my mind on my drive home.
“Everybody likes to help and these ladies are amazing. They actually have a quilt group that meets and does charity quilts and they give them to other places. They are supportive and community driven.
“People donate and lots of those quilts for Jasper are made out of donated fabrics. I quilt myself and that is also why I have decided to make quilts for Jasper because it is something I can do to help.
Shirley Kelly, owner of Shirley’s Sewing Room adds, “If anybody would like to be part of this, but does not sew we would be grateful of donations for backing and batting for our quilts.”
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