Madison Tiny Tots is a Madison County High School FCCLA project started last year by Kasey Odom and Alaina Pickles. The scope of their project is wrapped around helping Madison’s tiniest citizens to have the opportunity to grow and develop in the same caring community that they know and love.
Both girls, having grown up in this community, understand the value of giving freely to help others. It is their hearts’ desire to help those who are just getting familiar with the community they love.
This year, the girls have been busily preparing a puppet program to take into the community to provide opportunities for children to expand their imaginations through the use of dramatic play and puppetry. This activity has had them sawing, painting, and sewing in order to create a puppet theater.
The sewing turned out to be a ton of fun, and this spun a whole new set of ideas where puppets can serve older children who are already up and running. Quilts could serve infants. They could serve not just in their warmth and covering, but beyond that by the bright and contrasting colors that would stimulate their physical development, provide a play mat for tummy time, and a learning tool later on that could teach colors or items.
Alaina Pickels sits at a sewing machine, patching together a quilt for the Madison Pregnancy Center.
This brings them to their challenge! According to the most recent census 6.7% of our population is under 5 years of age. With that, we can estimate that there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 babies born in the county annually. Many of these children have relatives that sew, crochet or knit and they will receive a blanket of love from a close family friend or relative. However, there are some children who are not as lucky, and although we may not know who they are, there are local agencies who work with these families every day.
We would like to invite anyone who sews – or doesn’t, but has a sewing machine – to celebrate National Quilting Day, March 19, 2011 by putting aside any projects and chores to spend some time making, starting, or finishing a quilt to donate to the Madison County Tiniest Tot Celebration.
Quilts will be donated to the Madison Pregnancy Center as resources that all future parents have access to. The agency would be able to use these quilts to support the youngest and newest citizens. Quilts will be accepted up to April 14. Then, with the support of the North Florida Community College Foundation, the quilts will be on display as a part of their annual quilt show during the Four Freedoms Festival.
So, whether it’s a baby quilt you have made and didn’t know who to give it to or one made on the 19th, or any other day, we will be delighted to include it in the collection to welcome our tiniest community members to the warm and caring environment that Madison County has always been.
As you can see, Kasey and Alaina are hard at work on quilts of their own to donate to the cause.
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