PEA RIDGE (KFSM) -- For more than a decade, a group of Northwest Arkansas women have worked tirelessly to make sure children in the hospital have a warm blanket.
The grannies of Granny's Quilts of Love in Pea Ridge are now retiring. The group of women are looking for other ways to spread love to the children at Arkansas Children's Hospital.
"If you need anything, you holler and they'll be a granny there to help you for sure," said Lisa Crowder, a daughter of a founding member.
For the past 15 years, the small knit group of grannies sewed love into more than 25,000 blankets for sick children at Arkansas Children's Hospital.
"My daughter back in 2001 was diagnosed with leukemia and at that time my mom, Mary Margaret Webb wanted to do something for the hospital so she decided to start making quilts," Crowder said.
The group has grown to more than 30 women all looking to give comfort and a grannies love as kids face some of the toughest times of their lives.
"They take that quilt everywhere they go and sometimes to the funeral home," Crowder said.
When the ladies met to quilt, they would share stories from parents and kids that received a quilt.
"She lost her child, but she kept the quilt and she sleeps with it," founding member Winona Woods said.
The women said they are proud of their work, but it's time to retire. The grannies said they may be retiring from quilting, but they still want to help.
To continue helping families in need, they are starting an endowment fund.
"If we can get that endowment fund, funding grannies will keep on giving," Woods said.
For now, the grannies will finish up what quilt kits they have left. That should bring them to a grand total of around 25,700 quilts made with love.
If you would like to donate to the endowment fund, checks can be written to Arkansas Children's with the memo of "Granny's Quilts of Love Endowment." You can also call Misty Park with Arkansas Children's at (479) 725-0404.