Annual Salvation Army dinner, quilt auction Friday

The Salvation Army, along with local quilting group 1/4 Inch Quilters and The Salvation Army Advisory Board, will host its annual dinner and quilt auction fundraiser to raise money for local programs and social services beginning at 5 p.m. Friday at its fellowship hall, 310 N. Second Ave. E. in Newton.

“The Salvation Army relies on the generosity of others to help meet needs of those who are less fortunate,” Newton Salvation Army Major Mikey Carter said. “Attending the dinner and selecting items during the auction are great ways to help others while enjoying a warm meal and bidding on the warm quilts.”

A chicken and noodles dinner including dessert and beverages will start the evening from 5 to 6:30 p.m., followed by a live auction of quilts and gift baskets at 7 p.m. Costs to attend is $6 for adults and $3.50 for children.

Baskets are donated by board members and are arranged based on a theme such as kitchen, bath and body, children, or movies.

Many come for the homemade chicken and noodles, however, the real star of the show are the quilts on display made by a group of local women — 1/4 Inch Quilters.

The women have been working together for more than 10 years to make quilts, which each year help raise money for The Salvation Army and Newton. Members meet each Thursday afternoon at the fellowship hall and work for hours on their quilting. It’s a hard working, socializing environment as each member works on her quilt to put on auction.

“Our group has grown and our weekly meetings are a mixture of people who want to learn and those who have been making quilts for years. We help each other and show our finished quilts, help with patterns and even vary into table runners, casserole carriers, t-shirt quilts and even some do embroidery,” advisory board member and quilter Pat Mitchell said.

Quilts of varying size will be donated and feature different patterns like snowball, half triangle, strip, panel, jigsaw and more. The quilts can take anywhere from three days or three months to create depending detail. There will also be wall hangings.

“This is a big night for us,” Mitchell said. “Fabric and batting and backing for all the quilts that are made for the auction are purchased by the ones who make the quilts. We all have a lot of fun and the benefit is to the community through our local Salvation Army.”

The live auction will be hosted by auctioneer Melvin Montgomery, of Baxter, who donates his time.

Those interested in donating a basket to the auction or basket items can bring them into The Salvation Army Thursday. No alcoholic items are allowed.

Contact Kate Malott at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or kmalott@newtondailynews.com