Whether it’s sending quilts to six children in Alabama following a tornado's aftermath, to a family dealing with losing a child in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, or to a Ugandan village coping with the village's high mortality rate, Kwiltz 4 Kidz, a Boothbay Region based quilting group, has comforted people in crisis since 2008.

Kwiltz 4 Kidz began as a way for the members to share their passion for both quilting and helping people. The group meets weekly and produces about 60 quilts a year. These “gifts of compassion” started by presenting local children in crisis with a quilt. Over the years, the program expanded to provide quilts to adults dealing with a serious illness.

According to Kwiltz for Kidz member Sue Burge, the group hopes the quilts serve as a giant hug.

“When they wrap the quilt around them, we hope they feel all the love that went into making it. And hopefully they'll feel better,” Burge said.

The group originally began distributing quilts local to children in crisis. The group provides quilts to families dealing with losing a home to a fire, someone who lost a loved one, or an adult diagnosed with cancer. Locally, the group distributes quilts to the Saint Andrews Village's Gregory Wing, Miles Memorial Hospital, and Healthy Kids — a Lincoln County outreach program providing support to children in crisis.

The group's most recent donation was to the St. Andrews Wellness Center in Boothbay Harbor. On July 10, the members donated a framed quilt that is displayed in the center's community room. All 10 Kwiltz for Kidz members had a hand in the quilt's design and creation. The design has a nautical theme displaying nine different sailboats navigating the ocean.

The group thought the concept worked because the community room overlooks the bay. Some sailboats are sailing on bright sunny day and others on a dark and cloudy night.

“The experiences going on at sea are likened to ones going on with the patients lives,” Burge said. “Some of the patients' days are dark, then they experience progress with their treatment. And it brings their spirits up, and into the light. So the dark and light scenes on the quilt represents what they are going through in their personal lives.”

The group will usually send quilts to a location that has a local connection to the Boothbay region. The members sent a quilt to New Town, Conn. because a Boothbay Harbor resident had a family member who died.  But in 2012, the group had no connection to anyone in Alabama. The devastation was so severe that the group wanted to comfort the children suffering from their parents’ deaths.

“It was so awful we wanted to do something. So we contacted disaster relief centers in Alabama to find out where we could send the quilts,” Burge said.

The group's African connection is through one of the group’s newer members, Nancy Van Dyke. The retired hospice nurse joined because several of her friends were members.

Van Dyke is also a missionary worker. She's traveled to Uganda seven times. Her missionary work typically takes her to Uganda for 2-3 weeks at time, teaching the Ugandans how to treat their dying villagers. Her church has built schools and hospitals in Uganda.

In 2013, Kwilz 4 Kidsz sent quilts along with dresses and short pants to Uganda. Van Dyke said the knitting groups has a tremendous spirit dedicated to helping others.

“This is just an awesome group of women,” Van Dyke said. “They're always showing up to help out others whether there here in Maine or across the ocean in Africa.”

Kwitz 4 Kidz originally started at the Boothbay Baptist Church. It's current home is in member Karen Keyes' basement. Keyes along with Colleen Gaffey lead the group's quilting efforts. Keyes specializes in the hand quilting technique, while Gaffey focuses on machine quilting.