Whidbey quilters help youth shelter

The quilting group from Trinity Lutheran Church has donated a beautiful rose-print quilt to help support the efforts of a local community group with the desire to establish a youth shelter on Whidbey Island.

Ryan’s House is a proposed youth shelter that will be designed to house middle- and high-school-aged students in need of a safe place to stay on an emergency or temporary basis.

The focus of the shelter is to provide families support, encouragement, education and mediation to help students and their families re-establish youth back into their homes.

“Homelessness effects not only families and single adults, but also young students on their own who are trying to stay in school and sometimes hold down a job at the same time,” said Lori Cavender, who’s spearheading the group to create Ryan’s House.

“How much harder is it to focus on your education and responsibilities when you have no idea where you will lay your head come nightfall. We just want to help provide a safe place where students have an appropriate environment in which they can lay the groundwork for a better future,” she said.

Tickets for the quilt raffle can be purchased for $2 each at the following local businesses: Rumor’s Salon in Clinton, The Paint Escape in Freeland, and Quilting By The Sea in Langley.

The sage-and-rose-print quilt will be raffled off Friday, April 30, and the winner will be notified by telephone that afternoon.

For more information about Ryan’s House, how to get involved with the project or to find out how to purchase tickets, visit www.ryanshouse.org or call 206-356-2405.

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