Recruiting!

It is almost Earth Day. The folks at Greenway Network are getting ready to for a big festival season. And that means SUNPAINTING!

Here are some kids at a recent festival making their sunpaint fabric. We usually have HUNDREDS of kids come by and play with our paint and things. Most of them are able to come back and get their fabric to take home as a souvenir. Some don't make it back and some simply donate the fabric to the Sunlight Quilt Project.

You see, while the kids are painting with our volunteers, we are talking to their adults about the problems associated with invasive species. One of the biggest problems we have around here is bush honeysuckle. It is a huge problem because it crowds out the native plants that grow in the forest floor, creates pathways for predators to get to songbird nests and may even add toxins to the soil that prevent some native species from growing.



That brings us back to the pieces of fabric that are left over from our festival events. For the past several years, we have given the fabric to local quilt guilds. They have assembled quilts which we then raffle. The money raised goes to support our invasive species education and eradication projects. Last year we used funds from the Sunlight Project to purchase special tools called honeysuckle poppers. They make it easier to get the plant out of the ground. We have been using these tools at several removal projects throughout the Confluence Region.

You see, that is the origin of the Sunlight Project name. We use sunlight to paint the fabric and removing bush honeysuckle brings sunlight back to the forest floor.

It is time to get started on the project again. We are looking for a quilter or group of quilters who will be willing to donate their time and the extra materials (batting, backing, quilting) to make a quilt. We have some fabric available now and will have more at the end of April. We need to have the quilt ready for display before our annual Race for the Rivers event at the end of August. We start selling raffle tickets as soon as the quilt is ready and the drawing takes place at our annual meeting in late October or early November.

Let me know if you are interested in working on the project.