In celebration of their 100th-anniversary milestone, MCC held 'The Great Winter Warm-up,' an event to collect 6,500 comforters across North America and deliver them to humanitarian efforts around the world.

Although the unexpected winter storm Friday into Saturday made road conditions challenging, many southern Manitoba communities still joined MCC volunteers in this effort.

Before the storm, Deloris Georzen and 25 other women planned to meet at Carman Mennonite Church, to tie quilts together and help those in need.

Making quilts isn't new for Goerzen, over the past year, she has been meeting with five to six other women in Carman to make quilts every other Tuesday. She says knowing their quilts do good in the world is exciting.

"It excites me very much. I had a lady at my house this past summer, and she told me when she was a child, she received one of these MCC [comforters], so she was very thrilled. It's very fulfilling, it's something I can do at home, and although I don't work at the MCC store I can sew these comforter tops and do some tying, I feel this is my contribution and my way to help people."

In preparation for the event, Goerzen had collected material and crafted 32 quilt tops.

The younger generation also contributed. Grade three and four classes at Hochfeld Elementary School made a quilt, donating it to MCC. Their teacher Amanda Lowen says MCC reached out to her, knowing she was an avid quilter and has made a quilt with students before. She says it was an excellent opportunity to teach students of the world and those less fortunate.

"Many of them don't have that concept yet of the globe, and there are people in other countries that have needs. It's quite eye-opening for them that other people in other countries aren't as fortunate as us here in Canada, and we can do something to help them."

Hochfeld Elementary School grade 3 and four students and the quilt they made. Photo submitted by Amanda Lowen.

Lowen says they're always looking for new chances to include service-learning projects into the Social Studies curriculum, and take part in both local and global initiatives.

The students designed and hand-painted the fabric and sewed the blocks into the quilt, and the students were involved in every step of the way.

She adds her class will continue to learn more about the work MCC does during a field trip to the MCC distribution centre in Plum Coulee. The students will learn how their quilt and many others will travel thousands of miles to help those affected by conflict and disaster.

Darryl Loewen, MCC Manitoba Executive Director, says it great to see both the older and younger generations involved in MCC's mission.

"Participants who have registered are telling us about their plan to come with one or perhaps two generations of family members to be part of this celebration. It's terrific. We want this to be intergenerational, and we want our community life to be intergenerational. If our celebrations can be so and can point to good work in service for vulnerable people, then we're really grateful for that."

For more on the impact on comforters and MCC's work around the world: Mennonite Central Committee Marks Special Milestone In 2020

Photo provided by MCC Manitoba.

Photo provided by MCC Manitoba.