Community Service
From inception the Brown Sugar Stitchers Quilt Guild embraced public service and involved itself in the cultural and educational affairs throughout the community. We have been involved in enrichment programs at local public schools, the High Museum, the Atlanta History Center, Atlanta’s National Black Arts Festival, the Girl Scouts, and Quilts of Valor. Our signature public service activity is the yearly donation of quilts to children residing at the Carrie Steele-Pitts Home for Children in Southwest Atlanta. In 2018 our Guild is also donating quilts to Faces, a non-profit organization serving children with craniofacial differences. We ask that all members participate in these community service activities.

  • Guild member Joyce Turk, coordinated donations to FACES: The National Craniofacial Association is a non-profit organization serving children and adults throughout the United States with severe craniofacial differences resulting from birth defects, injuries, or disease. The Guild donated to this charity 2018 & 2019.
  • Carrie Steele Pitts Children Home – csph.org
  • Sickle cell disease is a genetic blood disorder that affects hemoglobin in red blood cells. Hemoglobin is a protein that carries oxygen to all parts of the body. Normal red blood cells are round and smooth; in a child with sickle cell disease, red blood cells are hard, sticky and shaped like a crescent, or sickle. Marilyn Sifontes coordinates our donations of quilts and pillows for the patients. You can support this project by making donations of fabric, quilting supplies, or skill. Contact Brown Sugar Stitchers by email at bssquiltguild@gmail.com.

Education
Throughout the year, we have teachers and speakers present techniques in all aspects of quilting (from traditional to modern art quilts), and we sponsor various workshops. Our goal is to increase our knowledge and improve our skills. Members are invited to suggest potential speakers or techniques to the VP-Programs.

Brown Sugar Stitchers and Carrie Steele Pitts Home
The Brown Sugar Stitchers Quilt Guild (BSS) is group of primarily African American women quilters in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The group has met on a monthly basis since 2000 at the William C. Brown Wesley Chapel library in Decatur, Georgia.

From the beginning, the founding members of guild shared an interest in supporting the surrounding community. BSS founding member Rosalind Rubens Newell was on the board of directors of the Carrie Steele-Pitts Home, Inc. (CSPH) and suggested that the guild consider donating quilts to the children in the home.

As a result, the guild adopted CSPH as its signature public service activity. Every year since 2001, BSS has donated beautiful, custom-made quilts for children in the home. The idea was to complement the nurturing taking place at the Home by letting a child know that something warm and special was made for him or her. In the words of founding member Maxine Moore, “By giving them these quilts, we hope they know that there is somebody that cares and is concerned about them. We want them to know that these quilts belong only to them and will last through the years.” The guild averaged a donation of 20 quilts per year. In 1999, guild members added pillowcases to their donations. In 2020, BSS will offer a scholarship to a BSS-sponsored workshop.

Although BSS makes donations to other community-based charities, they remain steadfast in their commitment to CSPH. The guild looks forward to continuing the relationship with CSPH and supporting the children by giving them a cover of love to carry throughout their lives.

You can support this project by making donations of fabric, quilting supplies, or skill. Contact Brown Sugar Stitchers by email at bssquiltguild@gmail.com or visit their website at brownsugarstitchersquiltguild.com.