With high school graduation just around the bend, my thoughts are immediately turned toward soon-to-be summer. One of the many summer traditions Panguitch City holds year after year is the Quilt Walk Festival.
As the story goes, our town’s founders trekked across snowy mountains to reach Parowan for food. As they climbed higher and higher into the mountains, the deeper and deeper the snow became. It became so deep that they eventually had to leave behind the wagon and continue on foot; they did not get far, however, when the snow became too deep to even make it across by foot.
In desperation the men gathered together kneeling in prayer upon a quilt. While they prayed the men began to realize that upon the quilt they didn’t sink into the snow, so the men took all the quilts that they had, and laid them down one after the other crossing over the mountain and back with these wonderful quilts that their wives had sewn for them.
It is incredible that something so simple like a blanket could have made such a big difference, but it did, and it is still making a big difference today.
While inflation has been taking its toll on the economy and markets of America, war has been raging in the countries east, in Ukraine and Russia. Despite and amidst our own struggles here in North America, the despair Ukraine has been feeling these past few months has not gone unnoticed.
Mr. and Mrs. Halladay, a couple from Lehi, Utah, began the “Wrap Ukraine with Quilts” Project about two months ago. Since then they have received nearly three thousand quilts donated by Americans across 32 states, and they simply keep coming.
Once donated, the quilts are sent to Poland, Moldova, and Romania on the borders of Ukraine where many of the people have emigrated out of their home country. These two stories are examples of simple acts that have turned into something personal and extraordinary for all who experience them.
For anyone who would like more information on the “Ukraine Wrapping” you can go to hellocottons.com. This is the type of a good cause that could always use one more quilt. Until next time. I hope the wind will stop blowing long enough for you to enjoy the spring blossoms.
– by Ella Hughes (18) Panguitch
Feature image caption: A stack of quilts for Ukraine sits next to a poster for Mr. and Mrs. Halladay’s good cause. Courtesy ksl.
Ella Hughes – Panguitch
Ella Hughes is a junior journalist and editor at The Byway. She has recently graduated from Panguitch High School and has written for The Byway for two years now. Her favorite topics to write about are history as well as present-day local events. In her free time she enjoys singing, watching movies, reading books, and spending time with her family she adores.
Ella is currently serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is serving in the Philippines Tacloban Mission.