Earlier this week, Joy Javits, founder of In the Public Eye: Effective Communication, keyed us into Stitching North Carolina: The 100 County Quilt Project.
From her e-mail:
During World War II, more young men from North Carolina were rejected from serving in the military because of health reasons than any other state. Not surprisingly, the state’s number of doctors and hospitals ranked near the bottom. North Carolina needed a state hospital!
Centralized Chapel Hill, where a two-year medical school, opened in 1879, was expanding to a four-year program, was seen as the logical setting for the state hospital which would serve all of its people regardless of ability to pay. North Carolina Memorial Hospital opened for business on September 2, 1952, and has grown into five hospitals in the years since.
Before celebrating the opening of the N.C. Women’s and N.C. Children’s hospitals in September 8, 2001, Joy Javits was tapped to lead a project that would represent all 100 counties served by the hospitals. The response was enthusiastic and along with drawings of their county flag by children, and writings by women, a brilliant quilt made by many hands was the centerpiece at the celebration.
Large as the quilt was, 27 counties were not represented, but “holder†blocks were sewn in to provide a place for them. The quilt, as well as the poems and county flags toured 18 counties over seven years. This past fall, Javits, along with writer Valarie Schwartz, had the idea of furthering the project and continuing the tour.
Below you will find instructions for whichever piece of this project is not represented by your county. We hope you will know someone in your county with the skills and interest to make this contribution. Please let us know how we can assist you, including who we need to contact if you are not the right person to help with this.
Please help us piece together the missing squares of our state quilt, complemented by the writings and drawings, to get
Stitching N.C. back on tour!
Here is the list of the the counties from which they do not have a piece of writing:
Anson, Ashe, Columbus, Gaston, Gates, Greene, Haywood, Hertford, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Mecklenburg, Lincoln, Mitchell, Montgomery, Northampton, Pender, Perquimans, Person, Polk, Richmond, Robeson, Rutherford, Sampson, Stokes, Surry, Vance, Wayne, Wilkes, Yadkin, Yancey.
If others wish to contribute a piece of writing that would be great too. They have a book of the contributions which is part of the Quilt Tour. In addition, the writings may be given as a gift to the patients in their hospital beds and to their caregivers, simply for their interest.
And here’s the submission information:
SEEKING: POEM or STORY written by a woman of the county about: UNC Healthcare, medicine, your county’s histories or glories or anything a patient at the hospital might like to read, as copies of the writings may be made available to patients and to their caregivers.
Typed or elegantly penned on standard, 8 1/2†x 11†paper (one page), laminated if possible (or emailed to below address), with name of writer and county on the front.
Joy Javits
Co-Coordinator of Stitching NC
410 Tadley Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
joyinthepubliceye@gmail.com