DELAND, Fla. — Three months ago Orlando Quilting Guild president Alissa Lapinsky decided she wanted to do something for the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre.
The idea was to make 102 quilts for the victims and families affected by the June 12 shooting that killed 49 and injured another 53.
She put a post on her Instagram account hoping to get enough donated supplies to finish the project.
The next day, the post had exploded and she was receiving responses from people all over the world.
Then, the mail started to arrive.
Lapinsky started receiving 30-50 packages a day filled with supplies and finished quilts.
Now, months later, the Quilts for Pulse has received hundreds of finished quilts and hundreds more are still in the works, causing the scope of the project to expand dramatically.
“My original thought was to (give them to) the survivors in the hospital,” Lapinsky wrote on the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild’s website. “Then it grew and I thought maybe to the victims’ families as well.
“Now I think we will have enough to even give (quilts) to first responders that were on the scene – police officers, nurses, doctors, hopefully anyone that wants one.”
If there are quilts left over, they will be donated to The Center and/or the Zebra Coalition.
“Hopefully anyone, and everyone, affected will receive a quilt if they want one,” Lapinsky said.
There will be no vetting process for distribution of the quilts, the OMQG said on its website.
The group hopes to distribute the quilts starting sometime in October.