She wants to give them hope, love and caring. 10 year old Sarah Lentz of Gainesville is collecting and embroidering blankets for the homeless. And the gifts this little girl gives have meaning that spans generations.
Sarah Lentz starting donating blankets to St. Francis House in Gainesville last year around the holidays, with a simple goal. She said, "Because I just don't want them to be cold."
The blankets are adorned with three words: hope love and caring. Sarah said, "So hope is like, I'm hoping that they would soon like not be homeless and be able to find a job...and I love giving them to it and caring, I just care for them." Sarah sells other sewing projects to friends and family to help pay for the blankets she gives. This charitable project stems from a family tradition of sewing and quilting. In fact Sarah started helping her great grandmother sew when she was only 2 years old. Polly Norton said, "She would push the material through sitting in my lap."
A love of sewing was passed down to Sarah and this year she gave a gift that brought five generations together. Sarah said, "So the yellow side is the side that my great great grandmother made. And then it was all stitched by hand. I made the other side and quilted it together and I put hearts to show love."
Sarah finished the quilt that her late great-great grandmother started, embroidering this poem: "As the years go by, and memories fade it's sometimes easy to forget how quilts are made. Almost a hundred years between two souls, these are the stitches that make this quilt whole. Love Mom & Sarah."
When Sarah gave her Great Grandmother Polly the quilt on Christmas day and even now, there are tears of gratitude and amazement. Norton said, "That my great granddaughter loved me so much..."
Norton said it's overwhelming to see the legacy being created. She said, "It just makes you proud to know that there's someone that's coming behind you that in this day and time really and truly cares about somebody else."
A legacy of sewing, quilting and giving that started almost 100 years ago.