Columbia Quilt Project

by Deban Becker

Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council would like to thank the members of the Bay Area Quilting Guild for sewing the quilt squares (made by GSSJC girls) into eight beautiful quilts for the Columbia astronaut families. Three of the quilts are pictured on this page.

The guild started the quilts at its February meeting– about 55 women were present and part of these women brought along their sewing machines. Immediately the ladies lined up, eagerly waiting to work on the quilt squares created by the Girl Scouts. The sewing machines were buzzing. It was amazing how fast they worked! Thanks to Bay Area Quilting Guild quilters Lisa Fonenot, Nancy Sievert, Laura Crawford, Winnie Fleming, Gail Harp and her daughter; to Fabric Cafe and Sew Contempo for their donations, and to quilter Karen Watts. The eight quilts were displayed at a reception in late March. Many heartfelt thanks goes to co-coordinators of this project, GSSJC volunteers Andrea Williams and Linda Felton, for all their time and hard work in making this project a reality and to GSSJC volunteer, Marti Broussard, for making the beautiful Girl Scout emblem quilt squares that added “that special touch” to each quilt. 

Members of Troop #1759 show off their hard work.

Lauren and Grace of Troop #1759 work on quilt squares.

TV-Turnoff Week
April 19-25:
Turn off the TV and get up and go

On average, American schoolchildren spend more time each year (over 1,000 hours) in front of the television set than in the classroom. The average American will watch over nine years of television in his or her lifetime.
TV-Turnoff Network encourages children and adults to watch much less television to promote healthier families and communities. Turning off television gives families a chance to move, think, read, create, and do to connect with families and engage in our communities. For many families, TV-Turnoff Week is a springboard to lasting change in their viewing habits. These people watch less television after participating in TV-Turnoff Week, and are more selective about the programs they do watch. They report year after year that life is more enjoyable and less stressful with less TV.
Visit TV-Turnoff Network on the Web at www.tvturnoff.org.

Kids who participate in TV-Turnoff Week 2004, April 19-25…

Won’t see 213 acts of violence, including 17 murders. The average American child sees 200,000 violent acts on TV by age 18.

Won’t see 384 television commercials during the week. American children see 20,000 TV commercials each year.

Will have an additional 19 hours and 40 minutes in the week to play, read, exercise, and spend time with family and friends.

Can have conversations with their families over dinner. Forty percent of families say that they usually or always watch TV during dinner.

Will increase their levels of physical activity, because anything else uses more energy than watching TV. One in ten American children is obese; one in four is overweight.