Church Group Stitches More Than 100 Quilts for Patients at Merle M. Mahr Cancer Center

(Madisonville, KY) - Sometimes a simple item can carry more meaning than is visible to the naked eye - and to patients at the Merle M. Mahr Cancer Center, the quilts they receive are more than just your average quilt. The fabric is carefully selected, every stitch is made with a purpose, and members of the Greater Lighthouse Church's quilt ministry group pray over each comfort quilt before delivering them to the Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville Foundation.

When members of the quilt ministry group connected with the BHDM Foundation early in 2025, no one involved knew the impact this program would have in less than a year - and now, that labor of love and hope has touched more than 100 lives in our community.

"Our group makes these quilts as a way to bring encouragement and hope to the hurting, and we have been able to bless so many more people than we could have ever imagined," says Ruth Ann Travis, a member of Greater Lighthouse Church's quilt ministry. "We receive a blessing ourselves when we have blessed others."

Through the Chemo Buddies program, volunteers in the Merle M. Mahr Cancer Center serve as a source of support through patients' journeys, with each patient receiving a care package, including a comfort quilt, upon arrival for their first treatment. These quilts provide more than warmth during treatments - they also cover each recipient in prayer from friends, family, and good-hearted strangers in their own community.

"Cancer is very frightening and can be isolating," says Betty Williamson, a volunteer with the Chemo Buddies program. "I haven't had a patient who wasn't extremely appreciative of their comfort quilt. Some of them are moved to tears to know that there are people they don't even know who are thinking about and praying for them."

If you would like to donate towards future projects or initiatives at Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville, please contact Ashley Galvan with the Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville Foundation at [email protected].

###