I've read everything written here to this point, and I can see this is a very polarizing issue for all of us, isn't it? It seems no one feels "wishy-washy" on this issue. And before I say anything else, I want to thank all of you who do donate quilts to charity. You provide inspiration and comfort to others and it is a pretty selfless act of generosity. Keep up your good works!

That being said, I am curious to know if Extreme Quilter has followed up yet, and in what manner?

The original post indicated that "...I received an e-mail from an unknown person who said her daughter had "bought two quilts" from RMH that she thought were "so pretty." She wanted me to make one for her bed and asked me to call her. I wondered if she was a patient's mother, who her daughter was, and if my quilts were being sold rather than going directly to the ailing children."

I wonder: did this "unknown person" understand correctly that her daughter had "bought two quilts"? Perhaps she had children staying @ RMH and they were given to the kids, not that daughter had purchased them? This is the first point of miscommunication, I believe. There are others, I'm convinced. But the director not returning calls/e-mails is most concerning to me.

I know people are busy, and organizations are trying to do more with less. But this lady needs to get to the bottom of this if for no other reason than her own piece of mind. Please be persistent and report back to us. We are concerned and we care.

I shall step down off my soapbox now and relinquish the floor to someone else who has an opinion or a question, but will be watching for follow-up.

Odessa

I would want to find out what was going on. If at all possible go down there to see the director.

...and therein lies the crux.
It is a very solid argument EQ, one that could lead someone in hot water.

If the understanding is that the quilt is GIVEN to a patient for comfort, then the quilt should be used in that way. OF COURSE without confirmation of what really happened - and why - you are only wondering.

At my company the employees donate monies to local organizations and we specify what those grants are to be used for (based on what the organization requests). We had some instances where an organization would contact us and ask if the monies could be used in a different way which is perfectly fine.

This year we visited an organization and the equipment that we paid for was nowhere to be seen. After much hemming and hawing and deflection from their board, we still have no idea where $2,400 went and we do not have a sense of honesty or integrity. The organization will not receive further funds.

Fortunately, that is the exception - not the rule. We found that when things go South, it is often due to poor actions of one of few misguided individuals while the organization and the volunteers do a bangup job.

Hope you get a satisfactory answer. Don't wait too long.

This is a tough one for sure. We want our quilts to go to the proper recipients and not get sold or 'stolen' by staffers etc.

I have heard more than once that there are hospitals and other charities that receive quilt donations and the nurses etc 'fall in love' with quilts and take them home. Shame on them!

That is why I would prefer that a representative from a quilting group go with quilts in hand and personally hand them to the children or parents. I understand that is not always possible because of 'privacy' policies.

warm quilt hugs, sue in CA

I would email again telling them you will go to the newspapers to put the word out-they are selling goods donated to the sick children! I know the same thing happened to me and my knitting group, we knit items for premies and the poor babies so they have something to wear home, and the hospital gift shop was selling them! I was not happy that time. :(

I donate my quilts to a Crises Pregnancy Home in Colorado and I know they are given to the moms when their babies are born. I would be very hurt if they were put up for sale. If funds are needed, please ask first.

wrae wrote, "That is why I would prefer that a representative from a quilting group go with quilts in hand and personally hand them to the children or parents. I understand that is not always possible because of 'privacy' policies."

We try to do that with the pillowcases our group makes for kids in hospitals but it isn't always possible to be there when each and every pillowcase is given out. This thread reminds me to discuss the distribution of the pillowcases with the social workers next time we're at the hospitals. At Christmas we gave 125 pillowcases to one hospital to be included with the gifts for the clinic kids and their families. We have no objection to pillowcases given to the patient's siblings, etc. but would object to having them For Sale in the hospital gift shop.
May in Jersey

I used to volunteer with the ARC and they are not allowed to use any donations for other than what they are designated to. Write a complaint letter to the HQ of RMH director. Ask for a response and when they do, ask for a follow up on the results. If they refuse, then repoort them and the next ones could go to St. Jude's after you get teh contact person.

Joann, I hope you spoke to the hospital director about the gift shop episode. I hope you raised a runkus in the gift shop too.

You bet we did! Now we donate to an inner city hospital not just for the babies, but children too! We think people who work work at the first hospital do not always know what they are doing-educated beyond their intelligence!

If the quilts were sold, I would assume the monies received were used to help with expenses running the house, so that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Like having a craft sale to benefit a charity.

This is a lesson to all of us to be specific when we make a donation.

If you made the quilts for children, not for sale, there is a bid difference. please get to the bottom of this matter. and please post what you find out.

I just want to point out that the original poster *had* been specific about the donation!

I would not try to re-contact these two. They have shown that they will not respond to you. BUT, I would be like a dog with a bone on my way up the ladder trying to get a response and know why they were "selling" a donation. Keep us posted on the response you get or if you decide to let it go. Ellen

I fund a project for pillowcases for children. Although I did mail once to an airforce base cancer unit, I give them regularly to our local RMH. I think they are wonderful and do such a good job with families. They are so excited when I bring in the pillowcases. Because they are so wonderful, I would definitely get to the root of what happened. It makes the whole organization look bad ...IF someone is doing something they shouldnt with donations. I believe RMH would want to know.

I am anxious to hear exactly what happened.

Margie

I agree-find out what is going on. It may not be illegal for a charity to say one thing and do another, but it is definatly unethical. Not only that, but if they are selling donated quilts, where is the money going? Maybe they decided to sell them to rais money for the cause? In any case, they owe you an explanination because you donated the quilts in good faith thinking they would be given out to those that need them.And since you were contacted by someone who bought your donated quilt, you need to find out why you were told one thing and another happend. The fact that they won't contact you is suspicious. It is true that when you give, it is out of your hands, but we aren't talking about pwesonally donating a quilt to a neighbor because their house burned down,we are talking about a charity that has a name to uphold and the public should know if something not right is going on. Please let us know how this turns out.

And another thought I had....why is the RMH giving your name and number to "anyone"??? I don't understand this either. Ellen

Odessa mentioned that possibly the person who asked to buy one of our original poster's quilts might not have gotten the facts straight. That set off a little buzzer in my mind. Is it possible that this woman used the word "bought" when she should have used "received?" She may have been mixed up when she was writing. In which case she started an awful tempest in a teapot. I hope the original woman can be contacted so that we all can learn if this is simply some sort of a mixup in word usage.

Thank you, Bev, for putting my thoughts into more eloquent words. That is exactly what I was trying to say. I suspect that there was some kind of "error" on the part of the woman who wanted to have another quilt made for her own use. She clearly liked EQ's work, or she would not have contacted her in the first place, IMHO.

Also, since EQ took the donations in herself, and discussed the intent/usage with the director in a face-to-face conversation, it seems odd that this has happened. The biggest problem here (as I see it), is a lack of quality communication between the parties involved. This communication breakdown seems to be the crux of the matter.

Extreme Quilter, have you followe up with RMH or it's governing body? Do you have any update for us on the status of your situation? We are all curious to know exactly what has happened since your original post.

Odessa

I'm thinking it may not be Ronald McDonald house that is at fault, but perhaps the staff at this particular House that is not following procedure. This needs to be looked into, as the Ronald McDonald Houses offer a wonderful service to countless families across the country. I wouldn't let this one incident deter you from making charity quilts. Neither would I let this matter go without getting to the bottom of what happened to your quilt.

I highly encourage you to go to the Ronnie McD house and speak with the director. Personally every month I donate disposable plates to the Ronnie McD house in my city. I stayed at a Ronnie house in Austin last year when my nephew was in their children's hospital. It's my little way of giving back because I know they need those plates to serve meals to their daily guests.

The other reason I highly encourage you to contact them is that I work in Alzheimer's research. Our organization collects lap-size quilts to give our Alzheimer's patients. I am beholden to the many gracious women who make quilts for us. They trust me that I'm going to give their beautiful quilts to the patients, which we do. If one of my many quilters had a question (like the situation you encountered) I would respond immediately and keep responding until the quilter was satisfied. That is the customer service part of my job and a responsibility I take very seriously. I find it pretty unconscionable that the Ronnie McD house director would ignore you.

If it were me, I would contact the national HQ so as to make them aware of this issue and to make sure this does not happen again.

I would sit at their front door and wait for the people and get an answer. The children and parents that stay at a Ronald McDonald house are the ones that really need quilts. Parents don't think about bedding when their child in so sick. Our great-grand son and his mom stayed in one in Houston and received very good care. We are just so Thankful now that Coty is well. glenda in Tx.

It may very well have been an error in verbage, however if it were a simple mistake then the people at RMH could have cleared that up quickly and easily with the first e-mail. By avoiding her they are making themselves (these two individuals) look guilty. I seriously doubt there is a huge RMH nation wide conspiricy to dupe donators. Lets not blow things out of proportion until she gets some answers either from RMH corp. or these two individuals. This is like a soap opera. I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.

Sorry you've had such an experience for a gift from your heart. I agree with the other posts to contact headquarters.

On a separate note, I'm a Project Linus Blanketeer and know our blankets go to seriously ill and traumatized children in the community. I, personally, drop off blankets to some of our local hospitals for the pediatric departments. We have a great time every month and meet at a local sewing shop so we get to use the latest sewing machines to make these special blankets.

YES!! I quilt with 10 ladies and our lil quilts go to our local hospital. I take the quilts directly to the nursery. God bless the babies wraped in them blankets. We feel good in our hearts. WE need to fight for these children.

i would get to the bottom of it because RMH is a great organization and has helped alot of people i would hate to know that one or two people would tarnish them sometimes you get people that take an advantage of things but i would go to the top i wouldnt think they would think this is acceptable

here's what bothers me most about this situation:

all the outrage i'm reading BEFORE we have all the facts.

howzabout we put away the pitchforks and torches and wait for the rest of the story. :hunf:

Amen PatriceJ!

Thank you for everyone's input, support and all the food for thought.

I must clarify that the use of my e-mail address by the mystery woman is not an issue. It is an e-mail address I print on all my labels attached to the backs of my quilts for the general public. So there was no wrongdoing there.

Right now, the RMH chapter is clearly guilty of silence and nonresponsiveness. Whether they are guilty of misrepresentation remains to be seen, and that's the purpose of seeking from this board the best way to extract those answers.

Quilters are generous and passionate people as evidenced by the responses on this thread, but I'm proceeding with deliberation and diplomacy, still giving the local chapter the benefit of the doubt until suspicions are proven.

I will keep you posted as this resolves, so please be patient.

I agree with the majority of this group. I would want to know what happened and why. I hope you find out something soon.

Ronald McDonald house may have sold the quilts and used the money for the kids. Your quilts may not have landed in the children's hands, but it is possible that the money made from the quilts helped Ronald McDonald house to continue to operate.

I don't know if you and they made it clear that the quilts were for the children that were sick. If that is the case, then I would talk to corporate RMD and ask them to find out what happened.

Sooo Any update!?

EQ had discussed with the director which quilts should go to which kinds of children. Obviously a mistake was made by an employee while the director was on vacation, but the director never took action to clarify to the donor what actually happened.

Several people have mentioned that money from the sale of the quilts could have gone to the RMD house and that this is a good thing. Well, yes, but a good portion of the money used to run RMD goes to salaries -- including the salaries of the director and employee responsible for this misunderstanding (or mistake, or whatever). The director is not volunteering her time to run this non-profit. However, EQ *did* donate her time and materials when making the quilts for sick kids. Like EQ, if I had known the quilts were to be sold I would have preferred to make a cash donation to the charity.

Oh dear, we are behind the times. It is rotary cutters and thread nippers these days....tsk tsk. lol

I assume this is fact and what actually happened?

A field manager for my region from RMH headquarters said he would be in touch with me some time this week with answers to my questions.

Hope you get a satisfactory response.

I sure hope it turns out well! let us know.

I'm looking forward to seeing his response.