Stitched With Purpose
At Cedarhurst of Tesson Heights, a quilting group transforms time, talent, and tradition into acts of service.
On Thursday mornings at Cedarhurst of Tesson Heights, the hum of conversation mingles with the soft rhythm of fabric being pulled beneath a needle. Squares of patterned cotton are spread across tables. An iron hisses. Someone laughs. At one end of the table, Doris Lake carefully guides her stitching. Not long ago, she says, she couldn’t even sew a button. “I couldn’t sew,” she laughs now. In fact, she once hated sewing—the last time she tried was in high school.
From the beginning, the group decided their quilts would be donated—to foster babies and to veterans at the local VA Hospital. Their time together would serve someone beyond their own circle.
“Because they are the neediest,” says Mary Carson quietly. Mary knows that experience personally. She was once a foster child herself. The room grows thoughtful when the women talk about veterans. “We really need to give to them,” Doris says. “They have given a lot to us.” As they sew, they imagine the quilts draped across a lap, tucked around a sleeping baby, or wrapped around someone who needs warmth in more ways than one. “It really does matter,” Doris says. “We are giving some of us to somebody else. It takes a lot of work, but it’s worth it. I enjoy it.”
Today, she’s part of something much bigger than a craft.
The quilting group began simply enough. Barb Jackson discovered that Life Enrichment Coordinator Glenette Nothum quilted. Another resident, Rose, quilted. Vera sewed. They started talking—about fabric, about patterns, about what they might create together.
Some had quilting experience; others were beginners. The goal, though, wasn’t simply to learn something new, it was to do something for others.
Barb nods. “To bring joy to other people and maybe brighten their day or their time.”
Kath Cutak admits she’s not a natural quilter. When she’s stitching, she concentrates carefully on the task in front of her. But she understands the deeper purpose. “It’s nice to know you are doing something for someone,” she says. “Unexpected kindness—the people who receive these did not expect it. I think unexpected kindness is never forgotten.”
“It has always been about doing something for others,” Doris says. “It is better to give than receive.”
18 CEDARHURST SENIOR LIVING | SPRING FLOURISH 2026
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