By Casey Neill
MONBULK quilters were last week left broken hearted when thieves stole more than $15,000 in tools from a builder lending a hand.
They’re now calling on the community to rally behind David Higgins and their much needed workspace.
Quilts for Orphans member Susan Hamilton said the theft was “a crushing blow” to the group, which makes quilts for India’s Christian Outreach Missionary homes and disabled and abandoned babies in China.
“All materials have been donated. We operate on goodwill and with volunteers,” Ms Hamilton said.
“We have scrimped and saved to purchase a work barn, only to be ripped off at the beginning of the year by an unscrupulous shed company in Queensland.”
An anonymous donor restored their faith, handing over enough cash to buy their barn and Mr Higgins offered to put it up for them.
But on 28 June, “just when we thought we were having a turn of luck”, thieves stole Mr Higgins’s handmade trailer filled with tools from their Macclesfield Road base.
“He and his team have worked incredibly hard from first light ’til dusk to get our shed up and completed,” Ms Hamilton said.
“For every wonderful person out there like David there is an unscrupulous person who demonstrates behaviour of the lowest type.”
Ms Hamilton said the group had been trying to make a difference.
“Only to have our hearts – and now David’s – broken yet again,” she said.
“I am hopeful that good will come out of this disappointing turn of events and that we may have our faith in human nature restored.”
It was just the third time Mr Higgins had left his trailer on the site.
“This is a real kick in the teeth for him,” Ms Hamilton said.
“We quilters can cope with a delay or two, but his tools are his income and this theft really impacts on him.”
Mr Higgins said he was “disappointed but not too upset”.
“These things happen in our society these days. Tools can be replaced,” he said.
“I’ve been to India and seen some of the homes these quilts go to.
“If I can do a little bit that helps out people helping out others – that’s why I got involved.”
Mr Higgins said each child in the missionary homes had a small box containing all their belongings.
“Except for the homes with the quilts – they were rolled up on top,” he said.
“That’s the biggest thing they’ve got.”
Gaynor Peterson established the Monbulk Quilts for Orphans group three years ago and said it was “growing by the week”.
Quilting supplies have spread from her sewing room to the bedrooms and living room.
The shed will be used as a workspace and for storage.
“Which will give me back my house,” she said.
“I just can’t contain it any more.”
She discovered the theft on the morning of 28 June and thought it must have been a joke.
“The blood drains from you as realisation comes. You think ‘this can’t be happening’,” she said.
“Then you just get on with it.”
Ms Peterson said they would not let the theft slow the project down and hoped it would be finished in spring.
The builders are currently using old tools while gift vouchers and cheques arrive to help replace the stolen equipment.
Readers can call Gaynor on 9756 7950 to donate cash, hardware store gift vouchers and quilting supplies.
