Abbott Tech Quilting Project Raises Funds For National Volunteers

By Eliza Hallabeck

 Newtown resident Adell Mastro used a book she purchased at the C.H. Booth’s annual book sale two years ago to fuel a quilting project at Henry Abbott Technical School in Danbury, where she is a volunteer, over the last school year.

The book was used to create blocks for the quilt, and was enhanced and scaled to fit the quilt’s dimensions by students in the school’s mechanical drafting department, according to Ms Mastro.

Work on the quilt began in September 2010 and went until the end of the school year. Once completed, the quilt was brought to the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference held in Kansas City, Mo., between June 19 and June 24. The SkillsUSA competitions are designed to showcase talent of technical school students from around the country.

Ms Mastro said she was an adult volunteer at the national competition one year, and was so impressed with the student volunteers, who pay their way to work at the national championship, that she promised to help raise money for the students’ cause.

When Ms Mastro found the quilting book, she knew she would make a quilt to help.

The quilt made with the help of both students and faculty at Henry Abbott Technical School went on to be raffled for $700 at the SkillsUSA competition.

“Needless to say it came out very well,” said Ms Mastro, noting the $700 price was beyond what she expected the quilt to raise.

The roughly 8-foot by 9.5-foot quilt contained 56 squares representing each of the 50 states and provinces of the United States.

Ms Mastro said a quilt is already in the works to be raffled at next year’s competition.

“It was very educational to do it, and it was a lot of fun to make it,” she said.

The SkillsUSA national competition includes roughly 145 competitions focusing on the individual trades studies, according to Ms Mastro, and is attended by roughly 25,000 people. This year, she said, more than 5,000 students competed in the competitions.

The quilt was funded through recycling bottles collected at the school, and through other cost-saving measures, like shopping discounts. In total, Ms Mastro estimates the quilt cost between $40 to $45 to make.

“It was a thrill,” said Ms Mastro, explaining what it was like to bring the completed quilt to the national competition. “They displayed it one day at nationals, and it was at the bottom of an escalator, so you couldn’t miss it.”