Vanessa Génier didn’t expect her project sending quilts to residential school survivors across Canada would gain national and global support.
This summer, Missanabie Cree First Nation member Génier, who’s been quilting for over 30 years, created the Facebook group Quilts for survivors.
With the help from volunteers and donations, she makes full-sized quilts and sends them to survivors of the residential school system and other trauma.
With the overwhelming support pouring from every corner of the country and abroad, Quilts for Survivors is now a registered not-for-profit organization.
“I tried to stick to my Thanksgiving deadline but there were so many requests and so many people still wanting to help,” Génier said.
She started the group in early July after she heard the news about the 215 Indigenous children being found in unmarked graves at a former residential school in British Columbia.
With each quilt comprised of 12 different blocks, her initial goal was to make 18 lap-sized blankets out of 216 blocks in honour of the children whose remains were found in Kamloops, B.C.
Within the span of a few weeks, that goal was surpassed with the help of quilters from Canada, the U.S. and around the world, including Mexico and Norway, who have been sending Génier their blocks and donations of fabric, threading, batting and backing or money.
“We’re still working off of donations of other people. I don’t get paid for everything I’m doing,” she said. “So hopefully someday soon, we’ll have some funding and some more equipment and keep paying for the shipping costs, and keep making the quilts and keep sending them out.”
After talking to her mother, her boss at JMB Consulting where Génier works as a full-time bookkeeper, and a few other people becoming a non-profit seemed like the right way to move forward.
Génier never expected she would be running her own non-profit.
“It’s wild. It’s good but definitely more than I anticipated back in July,” Génier said. “It just snowballed. It’s just become this big thing that keeps blessing people.”
As of Dec. 8, the group has shipped 836 quilts and has 412 requests from people waiting for their quilts.
It now has a studio on Spruce Street South where volunteers can help with quilts or work on their own projects.
The studio is operated out of a three-bedroom apartment that has a fabric room, an open space and an office. The space for the studio was provided by a client at Génier's employer, who owns residential and commercial rental properties.
The group also donated seven smaller quilts to Cree language class students at the Schumacher Public School. The children loved the quilts and they want more to take home with them, Génier said.
Génier also offers in-person and virtual quilting classes. For her first class, 47 people joined Zoom from across Canada and Chicago.
There are three local women who joined the board and help Génier lead the non-profit and almost 20 volunteers who help with sewing and making quilts.
The non-profit is also in the process of becoming a registered Canadian charity.
“That will allow us to access different funding and provide those who wish to donate a charitable receipt,” Génier said.
In June, she’s going to a Quilt Canada 2022 conference in Vancouver. She will have a booth and there’s a bunch of volunteers from B.C. who are willing to come and help her.
In the future, the non-profit is likely to branch out, she said.
Genier also hopes to help people whose family members have gone missing or were murdered. She also wants to make quilts for children in foster care and, as a survivor of domestic violence, provide quilts to other survivors.
“I just really want to thank my boss at JMB Consulting because she’s very supportive of what I’m doing. And of course, I wouldn’t be able to accomplish half of what I’ve done without all of my wonderful volunteers,” she said.
A 24-hour residential school crisis line offering support to former students and their families is available at 1-866-925-4419.
