Prisoners’ quilts given to seniors
Four hand-made quilts is just one of the outcomes of a community collaboration project involving Tongariro Prison, Taupo¯ Quiltmakers and Age Concern Taupo¯.
Under the tuition of volunteers from Taupo¯ Quiltmakers, inmates at Tongariro Prison were taught the art of quilt making, and the beautifully crafted quilts are to be donated to elderly people in the community by Age Concern Taupo¯.
Tongariro Prison volunteer co-ordinator Gendi Te Keepa approached Taupo¯ Quiltmakers with the idea, as the prison was looking for activities in the community.
“We felt it was important there was a reason for the quilts that would be produced, and inmates are not allowed to keep the things they make.”
Age Concern Taupo¯ chairwoman Val Hoogerbrugge said the quilts would be gifted to an older person and it would make them feel special.
She says Age Concern visits older people who have issues with their families and lose possessions, and whose lives have not gone as well as they had hoped.
Tongariro Prison director Scott Walker says they are trying to create a community within the prison and this project was a way of showing the value of giving back to the wider community. He says many of the prisoners are very creative and quilt making gives them some skills for when they are released.
“They have to use maths, sticking at something is a skill to learn, and they need to work together as a team. They learn resilience when the volunteers come in and tell them to re-do it!”
From a mental health point of view the value is immense, with Gendi saying some of the prisoners became intensely focused on making the quilts, Scott adding that refocusing on something else was a release for the prisoners.
Gendi describes how one of the prisoners found that sewing was a way of relaxing after work.
“He would come in from his day job and zoom to his sewing needle.”
Volunteers taught the prisoners a number of techniques including applique, needle work and piecing. Tongariro Prison had a display at the recent Taupo¯ Quiltmakers Exhibition, and a Taupo¯ Quiltmakers spokesperson said they received many supportive comments.