Crafting for Charity: Alzheimer’s

If by night I am a crafter, by day I am a fundraiser for a charity.

It is only fitting I should combine the two and periodically feature crafting for charity on my blog. So tonight I’m going to do just that. My first choice is the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. The initiative is the brainchild of Ami Simms, whose mother suffered from Alzheimer’s. There are two missions: calling attention to the disease and fundraising for research.

The fundraising aspect is the purpose of the project Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilts. For this project, people can donate and/or purchase miniature quilts. All submissions must be no larger than 9″ x 12″. Proceeds from the auctions of these quilts go to research for Alzheimer’s. So far over $82,000 has been gathered. Help them bring in more! You can find the auction site here.

The other part aspect - visibility - is the work of a project called Alzheimer’s: Forgetting Piece by Piece. This is a traveling art quilt show of 52 interpretations of Alzheimer’s by various quilt artisans. Many have had personal experience with the disease. The show will be traveling the United States until July 2009. If you would like to go see it or book it, the schedule is here and the booking information here.

When you go to the site, be sure not to miss the otating GIF of some of the lovely quilts in the exhibition. Support the effort if you can - go see the exhibit if it comes near you!

Cheers, Miriam