Quilting for a Cause
Community Quilters craft comfort for children and families in need
By Sonia Duggan
Each week, a community of quilters comes together with a shared purpose: creating new, handmade blankets that offer warmth, comfort and reassurance to children facing some of life’s hardest moments.
These dedicated individuals include retirees who want to stay busy, lifelong crafters eager to serve, novices learning their first binding stitch, and volunteers who don’t sew at all but faithfully cut, bag, sort or label.
Together, they form the thriving volunteer force behind Community Quilters, a nonprofit created to support the local Project Linus chapter serving Collin, Cooke, Grayson and Rockwall counties.
Under the leadership of longtime Project Linus Coordinator Regina Forthman, they have donated 113,000 blankets to date and expect to surpass 116,000 by the end of the year.
In the beginning, the goal was modest — one quilt a month, said Forthman. That promise was quickly outpaced as the need grew. Over two decades later, the chapter she leads now distributes an astonishing 600 blankets every month, serving hospitals, advocacy centers, law enforcement agencies, school districts and nonprofit groups across North Texas.
Project Linus, a national nonprofit with 17 chapters across Texas and 371 across the U.S., was formed in 1995. Its mission is to “provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children ages 0–18 who are seriously ill, traumatized or otherwise in need through the gifts of new handmade blankets and afghans created by volunteer ‘blanketeers.’”
In November alone, Forthman’s group shipped 50 blankets to Snowball Express, a nonprofit serving children of fallen military and first responders. December brought 456 blankets for Community ISD’s Community Christmas, 80 blankets for Josephine Police Department’s Shop With A Cop, 50 for Plano Police Association Christmas Cops, and 80 to the Children’s Advocacy Center for Rockwall County — on top of regular monthly deliveries.
Community ISD Communications Director Cooper Welch, who organizes Community Christmas, said the impact is immeasurable.
“Mrs. Forthman and her volunteers make an impact in the hearts of our community, providing comfort and security at their most vulnerable times. I cannot thank them or any of our Community Christmas partners enough for what they do for CISD students. Without each of them, we would not be able to positively impact kids the same way.”
The group’s annual luncheon — held in October inside the workshop on FM 1138 — serves as both a celebration and an encouragement. Volunteers take a break from their weekly work to share a homemade potluck meal, hear updates from Forthman, and listen to praise and stories from first responders who witness firsthand the comfort these blankets provide.
Among those attending the luncheon was Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner, who shared how impactful the quilts are to first responders — and the families they encounter.
“You guys have no idea, as you sit here and make these blankets, how much we appreciate it,” Skinner told the group.
Law enforcement officers, including Skinner, keep blankets in their patrol cars for emergencies. Hospitals distribute them to young patients facing frightening diagnoses. Children’s Advocacy Centers let victims select their own blanket — often the first comforting choice they’ve had in a long time.
“It really is a security blanket for them,” Skinner said. “You can’t be thanked enough for what you do.”
Building blessing
For longtime volunteer and retired engineer Joe Henry, the workshop itself is a testament to faith, timing and generosity. Joe and his wife, Elaine — McKinney residents — were introduced to Project Linus in 2011, originally through the Dallas chapter. When the North Texas chapter formed in McKinney in 2016 and later moved into an aging school gymnasium in Nevada under Forthman’s leadership, the Henrys followed.
But as the historic gym’s condition deteriorated and space became limited, Joe felt a nudge he couldn’t ignore.
“Three years ago, God said to me, ‘You need to get your people out of that old gymnasium,’” he said, adding, “I waited about a year before I responded.”
He and Elaine approached Forthman with an astonishing offer: they wanted to help establish Community Quilters as its own nonprofit and eventually contribute toward a new facility — one safer, larger and designed specifically for the group’s work.
Finding land in the fast-growing corridor east of Collin County proved challenging, but in August 2023, a volunteer spotted a for-sale sign on a 4.2-acre property in Royse City. With board approval and support from the Henrys, the group purchased it and quickly began making plans.
“God provided this facility for all of us,” Joe said. “And before we ever started sewing here, that money was already back in the bank.”
A spacious 5,000-square-foot workshop and parking lot were constructed on the property, and the group moved in April 2024. Additional parking was added later, thanks to another donor. Joe said many members have contributed to the overall finished product and to the ongoing maintenance and operation since.
Inside the meticulously organized building, there’s room for every part of the nonprofit’s operation. One end houses a kitchen and a large open workspace with rows of tables and chairs where volunteers cut, pin and assemble blankets. Donated industrial shelving forms aisles stacked with fabric sorted by color and theme, quilt tops waiting for backing or batting, and finished tops ready to be quilted by volunteer quilters. Sewing machines line the exterior walls, and nearby prep areas include a bagging station where each finished blanket is packaged — ten to a bundle — before delivery.
The new space has allowed membership to nearly quadruple, with 50–60 volunteers attending weekly and blanket production rising from 400 per month into the 600s.
During a recent walk-through of the workshop, Forthman pointed out a stack of Christmas-themed blankets.
“These are ready to go,” she said. “By the end of the year, I expect we won’t have any blankets left except for a few special deliveries, like NICU.”
A special retreat
When Community Quilters purchased the property, the existing Craftsman-style home sparked another idea: a quilt retreat center called Our Place.
The 1,800-square-foot, three-bedroom home now serves as a tranquil, semi-private retreat available exclusively to Community Quilters and their friends. It accommodates six to seven guests and features large design walls, sturdy workstations, a full kitchen and cozy gathering spaces.
“We didn’t remodel it — we decorated it,” Forthman said during a recent tour, noting that the murals inside the retreat — including one of a sewing machine — were painted by the Henrys’ daughter-in-law. “We wanted the retreat to honor our original quilters, who have all passed on.”
Among the four original Community Quilters were sisters Carlene and Irene, both retired teachers, along with their quilting companions Mary and Hazel of Lavon — women Forthman credits for teaching her nearly everything she knows about quilting.
“I fell in love with them,” she said.
In one room, a sketch depicts the four elderly women sitting around a table.
“This is the way I would see the ladies,” Forthman said. “They came to the school and quilted every Wednesday, and my job was just to open the door and make sure they were comfortable.”
Forthman hopes the retreat will eventually generate enough rentals to help cover utility costs for the entire property.
“I’d love to rent it once a month,” she said. “I don’t want to be in the hotel business — I just want to pay our bills.”
Supplies move quickly and demand never slows. But Forthman doesn’t lose sight of the miracle she sees in the volunteers around her and the space they now call home.
She recalled how the group used to joke, “When I win the lotto, I’m going to build us a building.” “I would laugh and say, ‘I couldn’t afford a building if you gave it to me, because there’s so much over here,’” Forthman said.
“And now we have a building,” she added. “Every day I just shake my head and wonder if it’s really true.”
Want to get involved?
Visit plcollin.org or email the coordinator at [email protected].