May 10, 2024 By Mark Hofmann 3 min read

There are women out there, said Terri Wilson of Dry Tavern in Greene County, who will give you their famous recipe, but will leave out their secret ingredient.

“Not these women,” she said. “Quilters are very generous people.”

Wilson was referring to the 42 members of the Mon Valley Quilt Club, who gathered Saturday to begin working on a quilt for the Neema Project. The project’s mission is to provide a three-year program to women living in poverty in rural Kenya to learn the trade of dressmaking and tailoring.

The training is meant to lead the young women into employment and offer them a way out of extreme poverty.

“They’re taught how to sew and can make a living,” said club member Jackie Ingram of Monongahela in Washington County.

Ingram learned about the Neema Project from her daughter, who had previously worked with the program.

The club’s project for Neema was a 20-square quilt with each square having the image of clothing native to the Neema school in Kenya.

Once done, the quilt will go to the Neema Project where they will auction it off at their fundraiser in September.

Members of the Mon Valley Quilt Club have been gathering together for about 40 years to talk about quilting, give or watch demonstrations, or work on projects together. Its members come from Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

While this is their first time donating to the Neema Project, club members have worked together to benefit a number of other causes, including Project Linus, which donates blankets to sick children in the U.S. The club also offers a scholarship to benefit art students in the region.

Jennie Miller of Fayette City in Fayette County joined in February, looking for a group of people who shared her interest in sewing and quilting.

Because she also likes to volunteer for different endeavors to help others, Miller said she joined the right club.

“I wanted people relatable to me and [for us] to do something together,” Miller said.

Wilson, who has been a member for over 20 years, first joined because she wanted to know how to handknit.

“I came to learn, and then I just stuck it out,” she said, reiterating that she learned that quilters are, indeed, the generous type. “Here, we don’t care what you do, who you are, if you belong to this social group or that social group.”

The Mon Valley Quilt Club is open to anybody, whether they have no experience quilting or have been doing it for decades.

Those interested can contact Nadine Davis at 724-984-2965 or Jackie Ingram at 724-207-3858, about the club or information on the Neema Project. The club also has a Facebook page under the name “MV Quilt Club”.