Quilters from across Western Canada have answered a call to give the students involved in June's bus crash a comforting quilt.
On Friday, June 21 a school bus containing students from Horse Lake Elementary School and 100 Mile Elementary School crashed on Highway 97 north of Lac La Hache while returning from a field trip to Gavin Lake. Several of the students suffered broken bones in the incident and a man who stopped to help was fatally struck at the scene.
A few weeks after the dust had settled South Cariboo quilter Tracy McMurren and a few of her quilter friends wanted to provide quilts to every person involved in the accident. McMurren and the other quilters put out a call asking for donations and were overwhelmed by the response they got from the broader quilting community.
"We put the word out to people that we know that quilt and it went forward and forward, as things do," McMurren said. "We got lots of response, lots of really positive response. We were able to fulfil 35 quilts, including for the man who passed away."
McMurren said the donations came from quilters in 108 Mile Ranch, Barriere, Clinton, Horsefly, Forest Grove, Maple Ridge, Williams Lake, the Interlakes and Cold Lake, Alta. She remarked it was heartwarming to see quilts coming from so many different places. She has decided to dub the informal group as Our Community Quilters so that if anything should happen again they could come back together to help out.
"These are children from our community and we felt they should have something given to them so they can begin to heal. It was a very tragic accident and what I understand is a lot of them were injured very badly," McMurren said. "If we can rise to the occasion, we should."
Our Community Quilters have teamed up with Cariboo-Chilcoltin MLA Lorne Doerkson, who has agreed to house and distribute the quilts out of his riding office at Uptown Plaza on Horse Lake Road. Any student involved in the crash is invited to come and pick up their choice of a quilt.
"Despite my many years here, the generosity of our Cariboo community continues to astonish me. Throughout our region, we often witness remarkable acts of kindness," Doerkson said. "Last week, I was deeply moved when three extraordinary women arrived with dozens of handmade quilts for the children and parents affected by the devastating Lac La Hache school bus accident."
Doerkson praised the quilters for their generous gift-giving and described the quilts as a "warm hug" for all the recipients. He encourages anyone who hasn't picked up their quilt yet to do so.
McMurren said she knows that few of the students and adults have already picked up their quilts. She noted that each quilt comes with a note from herself and other quilters involved wishing them well on their road to recovery.
"We really wanted the kids and the adults to have something that lets them know people care and that we're thinking of them," McMurren said.
Doerkson's office is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays to Fridays.
