Skip to content

Sisters and friends make blankets for women in transitional housing

For the second year, as part of Catholic Sisters Week 2025, the Ursuline Sisters and friends made blankets for a women’s transitional housing community.

The goal was 15 blankets, one each for the residents of Fresh Start for Women. The residents are single women who have completed an addiction recovery program. The goal of the program is to help women break the cycle of returning to destructive lifestyle patterns. Cindy Jean, executive director of Fresh Start, came to the Mount to collect the blankets on March 18.

The volunteers made 15 blankets out of fleece. Two yards of fleece were laid on top of the other, and then the sides were cut in strips an inch wide and three inches deep. The strips were then tied together to make blankets.

On Monday, March 10, Sisters and Carolyn McCarty, an Ursuline Associate and 1971 graduate of Mount Saint Joseph Academy, completed seven blankets. On Tuesday, March 11, Ursuline Associates Tom and Amy Payne brought some participants from Commonwealth Connections to help with the blanket making. Commonwealth Connections works with adults with disabilities. It’s owned by the Payne’s daughter, Sarah Roby, and Tom Payne serves as her program director, while Amy volunteers with transportation and leads a scripture lesson.

“Sarah’s primary goal is to connect her people with the community,” Amy Payne said. “This is a good opportunity. Once they age out of the services provided by the public schools, there are fewer opportunities for adults with special needs.”

One of the fastest workers on Tuesday was Cathy from Commonwealth Connections. “This gives me something to do, and I like arts and crafts,” she said. Iris was working next to her, and said she enjoyed helping make the blankets.

The blanket-makers shared Maple Hall with the Quilting Friends, who were making quilt tops to donate to the Ursuline Sisters to use for the Quilt Club or Quilt Bingo this fall.

On March 10, Ursuline Associate Carolyn McCarty, third from left, joins the Ursuline Sisters in cutting strips of fabric to tie together to complete a blanket. The Sisters, from left, are Sister Susan Mary Mudd, Sister Mary Henning, Sister Michele Morek, Sister Kathleen Dueber and Sister Joan Riedley.
Participants cutting the sides of the blankets are, from left, Sister Suzanne Sims, Ursuline Associate Carolyn McCarty, Sister Amelia Stenger, Sister Susan Mary Mudd and Sister Mary Henning. Sister Amelia coordinated the event.
Sisters work on a sunflower blanket on March 10. From left are Sisters Mimi Ballard, Maureen O’Neill, Margaret Ann Aull, Michele Morek, Kathleen Dueber, Joan Riedley and Rose Jean Powers.
Sister Sharon Sullivan, right, joins Ursuline Associate Carolyn McCarty, left, and Sisters Suzanne Sims and Mary Henning on this purple blanket.
Sister Amelia Stenger, standing, who coordinated the blanket making, gives instruction to Ursuline Associate Amy Payne, right, on March 11, 2025. Amy and Tom Payne brought participants from Commonwealth Connections – which serves adults with disabilities – to help with the project. Two of the participants are seated next to Amy. Sisters working around the table, from left, are Sister Mary McDermott, Sister Rose Jean Powers, Sister Joan Riedley, and Sister Ann Patrice Cecil.
Ursuline Associate Tom Payne, standing, shares a laugh with Sister Margaret Ann Aull and other Sisters working on a blanket. Payne is program director for Commonwealth Connections, which serves adults with disabilities. Two participants from Commonwealth Connections are pictured at left, Cathy and Iris. They were especially fast at blanket making.
These were the blankets completed by the morning of March 11. All the blankets were finished by 10 a.m. March 11.
Cathy and Iris, at the top of the table, came from Commonwealth Connections to help speed the blanket making on March 11. The Sisters clockwise around the table starting at right are Sister Ann Patrice Cecil, Sister Margaret Ann Aull, Sister Maureen O’Neill, Sister Joan Riedley, Sister Rose Jean Powers and Sister Mimi Ballard. Sister Mimi said the women she works with in Chile make lap blankets for the elderly in a similar way.
The 15th and final blanket was made by some Sisters in the Villa, some of whom could not work comfortably in Maple Hall. From left are Sister Joyce Marie Cecil, Sister Mary Gerald Payne, Sister Joan Riedley, Sister Rebecca White and Sister Marie Joseph Coomes.
Cindy Jean, left, and Sister Amelia Stenger gather 15 blankets on March 18, 2025, that were made by Ursuline Sisters and friends to benefit Fresh Start for Women. Jean is the executive director of Fresh Start, which offers transitional housing and life skills for up to 15 women who are working to overcome substance abuse and sometimes domestic violence. The women stay from six months to two to three years. Each of them will receive one of these blankets to keep, Jean said.