Project blankets city's homeless with love

While some volunteer at soup kitchens and shelters to help the homeless, a Boston University alumna wants to give handmade quilts bearing the word "BELOVED" to the men, women and children living on Boston's streets.

Pascha Griffiths, a 2002 College of Communication graduate, founded The Beloved Quilts Project in 2006 to lift the spirits of those forced onto the street because of poverty or violence.

The project's volunteers, who total almost 60, help by holding "parties" to make quilts in groups or by attending a day of sewing. Quilt-making locations range from volunteers' homes to the Greater Boston Vineyard, a contemporary Christian worship center that donates its Cambridge space to the project on Saturdays.

"It's difficult, though, to complete a quilt in a [designated amount of time], so it's hard to reserve time for the project," Griffiths said.

More than 6,360 men, women and children are homeless in Boston, a 9-percent increase from the 5,819 homeless people in the city the previous year, according to a 2005-06 City of Boston Homeless Census.

Although Griffiths has not distributed any quilts yet, more than 30 quilts have been completed, she said. Her goal is to sew 100 quilts by September, when she intends to have an exhibition.

The quilts will then be given to the Somerville Homeless Coalition and the Cambridge Family Children's Service in October. Volunteers hope to make and distribute 1,000 quilts throughout the Boston area by 2008, according to the project's website.

"I'm from California, and when I came to Boston, the experience with the winter weather here showed me how frightening being homeless in the cold can be," Griffiths said. "This project shows that there is still love and hope for them."

Griffiths began the project after receiving a $1,000 grant in 2006 from the Somerville Arts Council, a cultural organization that gives 30 to 40 grants annually to support special art projects in the city.

"Pascha's grant was rare in that she received the full amount of her request," said Somerville Arts Council Office Manager and Grants Assistant Lauren Leeman in an email. "The panelists who reviewed this grant stated they fully supported the project."

Griffiths is working closely with Malden Mills, a Lawrence fabric retailer that donated enough fleece in November 2006 to make 100 quilts.

Project Account Coordinator Sharonda Dailey, a COM senior, said she works with the project seven hours a week and tries to recruit more volunteers.

"We are working with elementary through high school students," Dailey said. "The goal is to try to make it a community service inside the classroom."

There are several project volunteers from BU, including graduate students and undergraduate students in a BU public relations lab, Griffiths said.

"The goals of the project are achievable, and I think a lot of people can get involved," Dailey said. "The idea is really smart, and it is something that is necessary, because these quilts give [homeless people] something of their own."