Marie Senechal

It would have been easier for Marie to just hand me the quilted blankets and I would then make sure that the children will get them for Christmas. At 92 years young, Marie has been busy finishing up over 200 quilts for her 2021 list of recipients.

On Friday, December 17, 2021, Marie was at St. Mark's parking lot for the Al’s Pals Mobile food pantry location to distribute 25 quilted blankets for children 10 years and younger. She met newly born babies and their delighted moms; also, lots of aunties and grandmothers who were delighted to receive Marie’s quilts for the children in the family. The blankets were all distributed in 30 minutes.

The year 2020 was a banner year when Marie finished 250 quilted blankets - she spent over 3,000 hours sewing up blankets for the children. According to Marie, the materials for the blankets are all donated. Fabric comes from friends and even total strangers. The quilt batting is also donated along with needles and thread. She has two sewing machines and the most consuming part is cutting the materials and selecting what goes into the blanket. She makes sure there are plenty of animals in the blankets – children love animals and the boys love action figures.

It takes Marie about 12 hours to finish a quilted blanket and sometimes more if it requires many small pieces. Once she is finished, Marie will add her signature to the finished blanket.

She has two full bags designated for the families at Six L’s Farm and community – but these can wait till the New Year. For this location, Al’s Pals Mobile Food Pantry will be making the final distribution for her.

For 2021, bundles were given out to St. Matthews House, Golisano Children’s Hospital, The Shelter for Abused Women and Children, Pathways Early Education Center in Immokalee and Al’s Pals Mobile Food Pantry and a few others.

As I took Marie home after the St. Mark’s distribution, she was eager to show the pattern of a blanket in progress on her kitchen table. This is a woman who is non-stop on her mission to finish as many quilted blankets for 2022! Such a wonderful gift of warmth and love.