Quilt Created By Middle Gate Third Graders In 2002

To Be Auctioned For A Scholarship

By Eliza Hallabeck

It started with Middle Gate students reading Patricia Polacco’s The Keeping Quilt, in 2002. After reading the book, students participated in a classroom activity to create a Middle Gate Community Spirit Quilt.

That quilt will now be auctioned to help raise a scholarship for one of those participating Middle Gate students, now seniors at Newtown High School.

“Let’s just hope that somebody is as inspired as I am about giving children an extra hand at getting started,” said Kelly Makuch, mother of one of the then-third grade students.

Ms Makuch and her husband Ted have already contributed $350 to the scholarship, called The Gift Initiative. The top bidder in a silent auction during the March 16 and 17 showings of Newtown High School’s musical production of Sweeney Todd will receive the quilt, and the money bid on the quilt will go to the scholarship fund. However, if a $50 minimum bid is not received, The Gift Initiative will be withdrawn and the $350 donation will be gifted to Middle Gate Elementary School to go to the elementary school’s scholarship program instead.

Ms Makuch said this week that while the quilt is not in the condition it once was, she hopes people will see the importance behind the auction effort. The quilt was treated with a fire retardant spray while on display at Middle Gate, and the spray has since left its mark. The fabrics are still clearly visible, and every student who participated still has a viewable signature along the quilt’s edge.

In 2002 about 100 students worked on the quilt, and each quilt square includes fabric contributed from two students.

“They children sewed it by hand,” said Ms Makuch.

The students also learned how to sew on buttons, and how to use a sewing machine during the process of making the quilt.

Teachers, parents, and grandparents all contributed to the effort of stitching and finishing the Middle Gate Community Spirit Quilt.

At the time the quilt was donated to Middle Gate School as an art piece. Ms Makuch said it once hung in the school’s community room.

Ms Makuch always thought it would be nice to use the quilt to raise money for a scholarship for a student. “It was something I really felt strongly about doing,” she said.

Once the quilt is auctioned to the highest bidder, Ms Makuch said that money will be given to a student who completes community service hours between when the scholarship was announced this month and the final deadline to apply for the scholarship, June 1.

“I wanted it to be a challenge,” said Ms Makuch, “and I wanted it to be on fair ground.”

Students who apply for the scholarship do not have to be planning to attend postsecondary school.

Ms Makuch said she is hoping people will look beyond the sentimentality of the quilt, and she said bids can come from any members of the public.

The silent auction for the Middle Gate Community Spirit Quilt will be held before and during intermission of the Newtown High School musical production showings of Sweeney Todd on March 16 and 17 at NHS. Both nights the play is set to start at 7 pm.

Reserved tickets for Sweeney Todd cost $16, general admission for the performance will cost $14, and tickets for seniors and students are $12. To reserve tickets for the NHS musical, call 203-364-4534 or e-mail nhsmusicals@gmail.com.

To be eligible for The Gift Scholarship students must have been consistently enrolled in Newtown Public Schools since completing the quilt at Middle Gate and must complete a community service project before June 1.

Applications for the scholarship will be reviewed anonymously, and the application is available in the Newtown High School’s Career Center.

For more information about the Middle Gate Elementary School Community Quilt or The Gift Initiative call Ms Makuch at 203-364-1636.