SIDNEY -- Art meets function and need  when The Well Church's quilting ministry gets busy.

"The ministry itself is to make quilts of various kinds for donation to groups that might need them. We have a camp in I believe Wyoming that we are donating some to. We have done small fidget quilts for dementia and special needs people, and we've done some baby quilts, made some duffle bags and fleece quilts; all kinds of different things," said Andi Curtis.

Andrea Carrasco, one of the quilters in The Well Church quilting program, said quilts are made for individuals as well as organizations.

"We've done it for people who are in need, who have suffered loss, or going through a difficult time," she said.

The program started when a need was presented, and two ladies decided to take it on.

"We had a visitor to church one Sunday. His name was Mike. He's now at the Wind River Reservation, or Range. He came, and we support him and his ministry to some degree, but they mentioned to us that one of the things that could be helpful to some of the people at the reservation that he was serving at the time was quilts. My friend and I, who is a much more of a quilter was sitting with me and we kind of looked at each other and thought 'Hey, we could do that! We could make some quilts for them.' We thought that might be a great idea," Carrasco said.

She said the timing was right with her learning from her friend.

"That was what kicked it off. We got started making some simple quilts and then we just opened it up because we needed more people and so we invited other ladies from The Well to come and help us quilt, and figured that there's something for pretty much everybody. You don't have to know how to quilt. You could iron, you could do all sorts of tasks that are needed," she said.

The Quilting Ministry has worked with the Bed Ministry, often providing hand-made quilts with the new beds.

Curtis said since the program started they have received a lot of donated fabrics and quilting supplies. She added the Quilting Ministry was recently gifted an extraordinary amount of quilting supplies, more than they can use in the foreseeable future.

"We received a donation of a large amount of fabric from the disbanded quilting group at the Methodist church in Gering," Curtis said.

She said the surplus fabric will be sold at More Than Quilts in Sidney as a fundraiser for to purchase quilt bedding, thread and supplies for the Quilting Ministry. 

To learn more about the The Well Church of Sidney's Quilting Ministry, call 1 308-430-8579.