Warm
Quilts bring comfort
toyoung lives in Detroit.
Photo by Dan iel Lipp itt
LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER
Sue Stettner,
Andy Roman-
Roisman and
Kathy Bricker
display a
finished quilt
1he children born into "at-
risk" conditions use the
brightly-colored quilts for
many things — to keep warm,
to drag around the house a la
Linus in Charlie Brown, to cov-
er their young bodies upon bur-
ial.
Such quilts are being pro-
duced around the country and
in Detroit at Camp Tamarack,
Temple Kol Ami and Temple
Beth El.
11111 Ten have been made in these
Jewish settings and two more
are in progress. They are sewn
together by Farmington quilt-
maker Kathy Bricker, dropped
off at Dians Quilt Shop in Ply-
mouth, and distributed by area
hospitals.
In 1992, 22,000 were made
nationwide as part of the ABC
Quilt Project.
Begun by Ellen Ahlgren in
Northwood, N.H., in 1988, the
ABC Quilt Project seeks to
bring awareness of and comfort
to the more than 100,000 chil-
dren born with HIV/AIDS and
birth defects due to alcohol and
drugs.
Ms. Bricker brought the con-
cept to Detroit's Jewish corn-
munity last fall as part of
Temple Kol Ami's mitzvah day
of social action. Kol Arni's Rab-
bi Norman Roman approached
his congregation to create a
panel for the NAMES Project,
the traveling AIDS quilt, as a
mitzvah-day project.
"I had created four panels for
the NAMES Project. I knew
this was too large and too emo-
tional a project for one day.
When I make a panel, it's like I
live with that person (whom the
piece memorializes) until it's
completed," Ms. Bricker said.
Kol Ami families completed
nine quilt tops. Ms. Bricker
sewed the pieces together and
presented the finished work at
a family service in December.
Andy Roman-Roisman,
Fresh Air Society family camp
coordinator, was watching.
"I just burst into tears," Ms.
Roman-Roisman said. "I knew
I had to help continue this pro-
gram. I thought it would be the
perfect project for family camp
— an ongoing gift from the com-
munity."
Eventually, Ms. Roman-Ro-
isman would like to see each
group which attends family
camp (usually congregations)
complete a quilt. For now, par-
ticipants from several weekends
WARM page 16