Quilts for Survivors of Residential Schools![]() As part of our commitment to reach out to local first nations people, OVQG have made more than 30 quilts for the Westbank First Nations survivors of residential school system and other trauma.
Quilts will be on display May 2 to July 30 at the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna and then gifted to the Westbank First Nations. Quilts For Survivors is a registered not-for-profit organization that coordinates a nation-wide effort of volunteer quilters that contribute to gifting full-sized quilts to survivors of the Residential School System. Their efforts are backed by generous donations that support costs of logistics and materials. These quilts are a symbol of support, respect, and love. Founded by Vanessa Genier, an Indigenous mother from Missianabie First Nation in Ontario, Quilts For Survivors believes that a quilt is love sewn together to bring people together. The organization started with a group on Facebook asking other quilters to join in making quilt blocks to honour residential school survivors. We wish to honour the lives of the children who are just now finding their way home as Turtle Island releases the children back to their Nations across this land. Orchard Valley Quilters Guild would like to thank the City of Kelowna for there support through Arts and Culture Program Funding. www.quiltsforsurvivors.ca/ I acknowledge that I live, work and play as a settler on the unceded, ancestral territory of the Okanagan/Syilx people. I will continue my work in learning the story of this land and to build relationships with them.
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