Prairie Points Quilt Guild Celebrates 20 Years

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 The Prairie Points Quilt Guild in Rainier celebrated its 20th anniversary back in January.

The program has served Rainier and surrounding communities by providing quilts to those in need since January of 2002.

In March, the group celebrated three of its current members, who have been with the guild since its creation. They presented Majorie Capluto, Kay Ervin and club president Sue Larson with commemorative quilts as a thank you for volunteering for over two decades.

The group has undertaken many projects in its 20-year stint, including sewing quilts for homeless kids in the area. 

“We’ve done 130 quilts for homeless kids in the Yelm and Rainier school districts,” said member Tammie Meyers. “Three to five years ago one of our members saw a count of homeless people in Yelm and I couldn’t believe it.”

Meyers called Yelm Community Schools the next day. As she talked to the secretary, Meyers discovered the district had nearly 100 students who were experiencing homelessness. Then she called the Rainier School District and found out 30 of their students were considered homeless.

That motivated Meyers and the group to spring into action, collectively making 130 quilts to donate to the students.



The group has also created and presented stockings to the Rainier Senior Center during the Christmas season, which of course, were filled with candy.

Prairie Points is also proud of its work over the last 10 years with St. Peter Hospital in Olympia. The group partners with the hospital for the No One Dies Alone program. The guild creates and provides pillow cases to provide love, warmth and comfort to those in their final days.

Other various acts of kindness from the group include crafting quilts for families and residents who have lost their homes, and providing quilts and items of comfort to the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services and children in foster care.

The group has 25 members from areas throughout southeast Thurston County. They meet on the second and fourth Thursday of each month from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Rainier Senior Center.

“Our mission is to teach quilting to everyone,” said Meyers. “We’ve used the high school in the past to teach students how to quilt, and this past year we taught the community how to make Christmas stockings.”

The group also meets on the fourth Saturday of each month for their Saturday Sew event, which is also located at the Rainier Senior Center.

Those interested in joining can contact Meyers at 360-584-7582 for more information. People are also welcome to attend one of the group’s Thursday night meetings to learn more about the program.