Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center « The Backroads to Road to California

Charity Quilt Hand-Off

Friday, June 30th, 2017

At Road 2017, Road to California sponsored its first Roadies Give Back charity quilt project to benefit cancer patients at the Robert and Beverly Lewis Cancer Care Center at Pomona Valley Hospital .

Before the show, Anita Grossman Solomon created a quilt block pattern just for this project and made it available for quilters around the country to sew the blocks that were going to be used for the project. [caption id="attachment_4662" align="aligncenter" width="528"]

Anita is pictured along with Matt Reese and Matt’s mom, Shellee Reese, an administrator at the Cancer Care Center.[/caption] Then, on Saturday night of the show, quilters, some class teachers, and even a few vendors, got together in the Ontario Convention Center to sew the blocks together into lap size quilts as well as begin quilting the quilts.

After the show, unfinished quilts were given to the Nite Owl Quilt Guild to finish the quilting. In the end, 41 quilts were completed. On June 29, 2017, Road to California owner, Matt Reese, along with his wife Jennifer, presented to the Robert and Beverly Lewis Cancer Care Center the Roadies Give Back quilts which will be given to cancer patients receiving chemotherapy at the center.

Each unique quilt was folded into a Road to California reusable bag, accompanied with a card explaining the significance of the quilt and its care instructions.

While they were there, Matt personally distributed quilts to five patients including:

Joseph Derowen has been a patient at the center since December, 2016. He said that he “really appreciated” the gesture because 99.9% of the time, he is cold when he receives his treatment. He was looking forward to trading his “funky jacket” for the quilt to keep him warm. Joseph’s wife, Elaine, thought receiving the quilt was “very thoughtful” and was grateful that now her husband will be “wrapped in love.”

Joyce is battling Breast Cancer. She knew that the quilts were “a lot of work” and remarked how beautiful hers was. Joyce commented that it was “very generous for the quilters to donate their time and materials.”

Petra de Leon has been battling Lymphoma since April. Petra replied in Spanish, “I am very happy to get this quilt. It is very pretty.”

Ray Hardy told Matt, “No one has ever given me a quilt before. This is cool.” Road to California wishes to thank everyone who participated in this special project. They look forward to offering Roadies Give Back again in the future.]]>

Tags: Anita Grossman Solomon, Cancer Quilts, Charity Quilts, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, Roadies Give Back, Robert and Beverly Lewis Cancer Care Center
Posted in behind the scenes, Other Quilting Events, Road 2017 | 1 Comment »

Celebrating in Style

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014

Saturday, October 18, 2014 found Road to California at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California supporting the 11^th Annual Celebrating With Style Fashion Show and Luncheon. This event raises vital resources for the Robert and Beverly Lewis Family Cancer Care Center Endowment Fund at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.

Carolyn Reese sponsored a table and invited nine guests to attend. Those sitting with Carolyn included several members of her quilt guild, Night Owls, and her son Mike whose wife, Shellee, is the Administrative Director for the Cancer Center. Said Carolyn, “I am pleased to support this great cause that helps bring relief and hope to cancer patients and their families.”

Two of Carolyn’s guests were cancer survivors themselves: Lavella Fitzgerald and Maria McKendry.

The morning started with an opportunity for guests to bid on beautiful gift baskets followed by a delicious lunch and then a fashion show. There were seven models participating in the fashion show – men and women – who were all recent cancer survivors. As they modeled clothes from Banana Republic, Chicos, and Carducci Tuxedos, their individual journeys through cancer were shared by two moderators with the audience. Casual wear was the theme for the first segment as the audience heard about the models’ diagnosis stories. During the second segment, the models wore business wear. Each model had their physician accompany them down the ramp as the moderators told of the treatment each model had received. For the third and final segment, special occasion wear, each model expressed thanks to those caregivers that helped them through their cancer experience, especially their families. It was so inspiring to hear each story and see the “other side” of cancer.

In-between the modeling segments, they showed Pomona Valley Medical Center’s award winning video for the Pink Glove Dance. Thanks to all our Road supporters who voted and helped this upbeat video win the grand prize:

Road to California’s table was really lucky as three of Carolyn’s guests won gift baskets.