Ten days after Ursuline Sisters and Associates made 15 blankets from fleece, Sister Amelia Stenger delivered those blankets, along with five quilts, on March 22, 2024, to My Sister’s Keeper emergency shelter for women in Owensboro.

Angel Welsh, the executive director of My Sister’s Keeper, was overjoyed to receive the brightly colored array of blankets. My Sister’s Keeper has 17 beds for women, and Welsh works with each of the women on their next steps to get permanent housing and gainful employment. The blankets will be given to the women when they move from the shelter, which plays more of a role than just providing warmth, she said.

“A lot of these women have nothing. We want them to have something of their own when they leave here,” Welsh said.

The donated quilts will likely remain at the shelter. Each of the beds is covered in a quilt, which is important to Welsh.

“I was raised by a single mom. We moved 13 times before I started high school,” she said. “My grandmother’s home was the one stable place. She was a quilter. All of her grandchildren got a quilt, and my children got a quilt. It was security for me. I wanted to have quilts on the bed here and we prayed for them. I got a call one day from Macedonia Baptist Church saying, ‘We want to make quilts for your beds.’”

Sister Amelia organized the blanket making at the Motherhouse on March 11-12, enlisting Sisters and Ursuline Associates Suzanne Reiss and Carol Hill.

“I read an article about My Sister’s Keeper and I felt it would be a good way for our Ursuline Sisters to help others who are having difficulty in their lives,” Sister Amelia said at the time. “A warm blanket to wrap themselves in when they come to the shelter with nothing seemed to be a way for us to be our sisters’ keeper.”

The shelter has been open fewer than two months, although Welsh has been working with women in need for several years. Many of the women she helps have no support system, so they look forward to having someone available to hear about their day, she said.

You can learn more about My Sister’s Keeper at www.mysisterskeeper270.org.