The Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club supports Wrap-A-Smile, a District-wide project which provides comfort quilts.
WAS adheres to the following mission statement: Wrap-A-Smile provides quilts to individuals in any Rotary-sponsored project, with priority to children undergoing Rotary-sponsored surgeries.
Club member Dr. Ann Demeranville quilts7780@gmail.com) currently manages the project which collects quilts made by quilters from all over the country. Wrap-A-Smile was started in D7780 by Terry Hodskins of the Wells Rotary Club and to date over 24,500 quilts have been shared around the world. Initially colorful children’s quilts were given to babies and children undergoing cleft lip and cleft palate repair provided by Rotaplast volunteer surgeons. As the program expanded WAS was able to share quilts with Alliance for Smiles and Thousand Smiles, both Rotary-related surgical missions which also provide cleft lip and cleft palate repair. Additionally, quilts have been shared with other Rotary-related medical missions such as wheelchairs in Africa, hospitals in Nigeria and Uganda, and Ronald McDonald Houses locally.
Community collaboration helps make this project successful. Quilters at the Boothbay Community Center sew for WAS and also help label the quilts. Kwiltz 4 Kids of Boothbay Harbor share their quilts and a team of local volunteers meet at our Rotary clubhouse to vacuum pack the quilts when they are ready for shipment to the medical teams. Future plans call for the clubhouse to be used for community “Quiltathons” to benefit WAS.
For more information about Wrap-A-Smile and Rotaplast: