Pine Run quilt auction benefits Alzheimer’s group
Bucks County Herald, November 8, 2012
Written by Barbara Chirieci
Photograph by Michael W. Jones
A special silent auction of 50 colorful quilts, 20 designed by persons coping with Alzheimer’s disease, will be celebrated with a reception open to the public at the Pine Run Health Center 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13.
The quilts, designed as petite wall hangings, are on display for visitors to Pine Run.
Silent bidding will begin at a modest $20 per piece and all proceeds will benefit the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Complimentary wine and soft drinks will be available and a free raffle basket will add to the festivities.
Helen Wolf, a quilter since 1980, has been the hands-on visionary for this project. Wolf has produced more than 500 quilts, and local exhibits of her work have been mounted at the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, the Mercer Museum, and the Civil War Museum in Doylestown.
She also has personal experience with Alzheimer’s, having watched her husband progress through the stages of Alzheimer’s at home and now during his residency at The Garden at Pine Run, a secure dementia neighborhood located on the top floor of the Pine Run Health Center. Wolf noticed that some of the gifted artists in residence at The Garden responded well to creative endeavors such as painting and tile making offered by Kristen Moore, coordinator of life enrichment at The Garden. Wolf, inspired by the national Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative started in 2005, engaged Moore as her collaborator to develop a quilt program specifically for memory impaired residents at Pine Run.
“It frees them from any stress or constraints of a typical art assignment, because beautiful quilts can result from a bevy of patterns. Our residents can originate their own sketch designs or select colors and shapes provided in tool kits we developed for the classes,” Moore said. The public is welcome to view and bid on the collection of quilts.
