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Summarized by Rosemary Pollock
Kennewick family offers warmth to newborns
Kennewick WA Tri-City Herald 20Jun00 P2
By Xiao Zhang: Herald staff writer
KENNEWICK, WASHINGTON -- Horse Heaven Hill Middle School
eighth-grader Ashley Fowers enjoys making quilts. She likes taking
the quilts to the hospital even more. "It's nice to drop them off at
the hospital," she said. "You see everybody smile. It's a good
feeling to know that it's going to keep a baby warm."
For the past four years, Ashley and six of her brothers and sisters have
helped make more than 30 quilts for the newborns from needy families. They
are then taken to Kennewick General Hospital where the quilts are available
for needy children. Ashley's mother, Candy Fowers, started making the
quilts in 1996 as part of a service project for the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. She helped organize an effort by 600 children to make
quilts for the needy before the winter came.
The seasonal project evolved into a year-round family effort. Nurses at
Kennewick General say they have never seen Candy Fowers, just her children
that she sends to deliver the quilts. Fowers, who has 10 children ranging
in age from 33 to 11 said the babies should be treasured. "Little babies
should go home and have stars around them."
"I feel rewarded at the thought that it's going to make somebody happy,"
Fowers said. She sees it as "a hug in a blanket." Son Rob, 33, a resident
in obstetrics and gynecology in Tacoma said, "She would stay up until 2 in
the morning to make us tuxedos for homecoming at Kennewick High." Fowers
majored in clothes and textiles at Brigham Young University and has made
most of the clothes that her children wore.
"I think it's very nice," said Kym Moore, a secretary in the maternity
department at KGH. "A lot of times there's people who don't have much
resources. To be able to come in to the hospital, have the baby and have
new clothes for the baby - I think it's a very nice thing to do."
Fowers said she is embarrassed to be thanked. "When I get my kids raised
and have more time, I will do some more," she said. "There's always
somebody who needs a hug."
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