Quilt Sheds Light on Needs of Children

The children dance hand-in-hand up a quilted path, twirling a filmy golden ribbon between them as they skip toward a welcoming sun. But this joyful scene is hemmed in by words that hint at darker times, words such as child abuse , disability and substance abuse .

Enveloping both the good and the grim, the quilt is designed to inspire Ventura County’s leaders to heed the needs of the littlest residents: the children.

Already, county supervisors have agreed to form a children and family commission to coordinate social services and develop new programs. To spur them on, local artists have patched together a vibrant quilt that will tour county and city offices early next year--a colorful reminder of the need to protect children.

“The quilt symbolizes a blending of all the services we provide to make sure that kids are as happy and healthy as they can be,” said Kristina Brook, coordinator of the county’s new Children’s Services Network. “A quilt is the perfect way to depict these topics because it wraps around kids and is warm and nice and fuzzy.”

The Camarillo Quilters Assn., which boasts 225 members from across the county, has pieced the quilt together over the past six months.

And it’s just one of an estimated three dozen quilts that the association will donate this year as part of an ongoing program to bolster children’s organizations with cheerful, comforting, usable works of art.

Designed by Newbury Park resident Elizabeth Ryll, the latest kids’ quilt features rainbow-colored children prancing across a Ventura County landscape that sweeps from mountains to fields to the ocean.

The names of 15 social services the county provides are stitched around the blue-green border.

From education to youth leadership to child abuse prevention, the names cover a vast network of programs available to children of all ages and income levels.

“We all have the ideal that children should have comfortable, healthy, warm environments to grow up in,” Ryll said. “Hopefully, all these services work together to provide that.”

Once quilters have finished the final stitching early next year, their work will be displayed in Supervisor Susan Lacey’s office.

The quilt will also tour school district headquarters, city halls and other county offices.