About Us
Now in our 3rd year, the Bend Food Project Quilt Sale is dedicated to raising funds to feed children living with food insecurities in Deschutes County. Drawing on the talent and generosity of many quilters in Central Oregon, we offer a colorful and creative approach to fundraising by holding a one-day quilt sale in the fall. Quilts of all sizes, colors, and themes are available for purchase. All proceeds from the sale of quilts are used to buy food for local children. Our tagline says it all – Buy a Quilt Feed a Kid.
Note: For 2024, we are currently exploring options to offer a limited time online sale in mid November.
Partners
Quilters and Quilt Guilds of Central Oregon – The BFP Quilt Sale would not be possible without the efforts of local quilters. For a list of quilters and quilt guilds that have donated quilts to the sale, click here.
Bend Food Project (BFP) – This innovative program collects non-perishable food items through bi-monthly collection events. A significant portion of the collected food is aimed at feeding children and distributed via The Giving Plate. For more information, visit the web site (bendfoodproject.com).
The Giving Plate – The Giving Plate serves over 3,500 individuals a month in Central Oregon. They have a unique focus on childhood hunger, and as an organization, over 65% of those served are under 18. The Bend Food Project Quilt Sale directly support the Kid’s Korner program. For more information, visit the website (thegivingplate.org).
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon (UUFCO) and the Nourish Program – UUFCO has provided use of their facility to host the quilt sale. Specifically, we partner with Nourish, a program focused on providing fresh produce and perishables to local food pantries to help provide high quality nutrition to those in our community who are struggling with food insecurity (uufco.org/nourish)
Stitchin’ Post – Thank you to Stitchin’ Post (Sisters, OR) for their generous donation of the exclusive 2024 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show Totes! Stitchin’ Post
How We Got Started
Local quilters Judy Johnson and Sandra Henderson bonded over their mutual love of quilts and the realization that they both had many more quilts than they could ever use or give away. In the summer of 2022, they approached Sue Marceaux, Director of the Bend Food Project, to explore the possibility of holding a quilt sale with all proceeds going to the purchase of food. Sue was intrigued with the idea and a quilt sale was planned for early November of 2022. Judy and Sandra hoped to raise $5,000 by selling their quilts.
What started as a simple effort to sell some of their excess quilts, quickly expanded as other quilters learned about the sale. Judy and Sandra were overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of quilters in Central Oregon. The first quilt sale took place at the United Methodist Church in downtown Bend and featured over 150 quilts. By day’s end, sales totaled over $13,000 greatly exceeding expectations. It was decided that the funds would be used to purchase food for children in Deschutes County.
For the 2023 quilt sale, UUFCO’s Nourish program offered to sponsor the quilt sale by providing space in their building on Skyline Ranch Road. This proved to be a very good collaboration as the second quilt sale included over 250 quilts and the UUFCO venue was able to display many quilts to full advantage encouraging robust sales. Over $23,000 was raised and once again, the funds were used to buy food for local kids.
With your help, we can do even better in 2024. Buy a Quilt Feed a Kid.