United Boys & Girls Clubs Thank Coastal Quilters Guild

Source: UBGC

United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County has been a Food Bank Distribution site for a little over a month now. UBGC has served. 33,794 individuals.

“To make these daily, Monday-Friday, and at the Westside Saturdays as well as distribution sites, it takes volunteers, and we have over 100 volunteers weekly that help us serve this community. We want to keep them safe, and because of Karen Pickford, President of Coastal Quilters Guild of Santa Barbara & Goleta, and her team, we can keep our volunteers safe with the fabric masks they made for our sites”, expressed CEO of United Boys & Girls Clubs, Michael Baker.

When asked what inspired Coastal Quilters Guild of SB and Goleta to make masks, their President Karen Pickford shared, “One of our members read about the shortage of masks nation-wide and contacted me about the possibility of our group getting involved for our community.  We researched the need and, at first, were told that there were plenty of masks available in Santa Barbara and that fabric masks were not suitable. We also researched which masks designs were best and picked a few for our members to choose from.  When Cottage began accepting fabric masks, we organized and started making masks. We found that the need for masks reached well beyond the hospitals.”

Pickford went on to say, “Coastal Quilters has always been involved with community projects, such as making cradle kits for Unity Shoppe and quilts for Transition House, Hospice, and Veterans, to name a few.  This project is special because it has the capability to save lives.  We are happy to set aside our quilting to make these important items – and as one of our members stated: “put a quilt on every smile.”  Nationally and globally, home sewists have become the Rosie Riveters of the day, answering a real and immediate need.”

As of early last week, Pickford shared the group has already distributed over 700 masks in the community.

“ I can’t thank them enough for helping us do whatever it takes to help our club kids succeed in life.  I absolutely love my handmade mask”, added Baker. 

UBGC will continue to reach out to the community on other collaborative ideas as they launched their “Lending a social distancing hand” campaign two-weeks ago that encouraged community members of certain trades to spend their time and talents helping with projects around the club while their doors were closed to severing youth.

If you want to learn more about how you can give back or what to share an idea, please call 805-681-1315 or email mbaker@unitedbg.org