ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- Elmira resident Ruth Patterson wanted to help the people of Ukraine one stitch at a time. She made a quilt to raise money on her Facebook page. 

She made quilts in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Patterson said she found a quilt design that was created for the purpose of accepting donations, and for people to hang in their homes in support of Ukraine. After discovering the design, she was originally going to make the quilts for herself. 

“There was one night of extremely difficult news to watch and I said...'I just have to see what I can do,’” she said.  

Patterson knew she had to do something after the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out. She said what the Ukrainian people are going through is horrible. 

“I can't think about it without really tearing up,” she said. “I can't stand it on a human level, I can't stand it on animal level...I can't stand it on a resource level.” 

 

Patterson decided to make a few quilts, but not for herself. She posted her quilts on Facebook for people to bid on. She decided that the money that was raised would be donated to UNICEF to help Ukrainian refugees. Patterson only expected to raise $50 at most.  

“Then, all of the sudden, it started upping from $125 to $150 and then $150 ...it just kind of went up,” she said. "In the duration of the bidding, it turned into a game between a couple former coworkers of mine.” 

Patterson's former coworkers Tracy Nist and Christine Hiney had a bidding war. Hiney won the quilt at $175, then Nest matched the bid, despite the loss. In addition, Ruth matched their bids for a grand total of $525. 

“One simple, charitable pattern turned into a $525 donation to UNICEF for the children in Ukraine,” she said.