b'QUILTS FOR SURVIVORSHealing and Heart: Vanessa Genier spearheads a thriving non-profit QUILTS FOR SURVIVORS dedicated to healing and remembranceBy Crystal GreeneW hen Vanessa Gnier learned to sewVanessa Gnier, known as the Quilter with a Heart, tabling at a Timmins community event, representing Quilts for Survivors. Source:Vanessa Gnier.the 44-year-old mother of five, a Missanabie Cree First Nation band at nine years old, her first project wasmember of the Eagle Clan.a doll-sized quilt of fabric scraps she sewed together by hand after cuttingThe news struck her especially hard since her grandparents Dave out squares with an ice cream lid for a template. She got her firstand Emily Nolan had attended Shingwauk Indian Residential sewing machine as a teen and her passion grew into adulthood. School in Sault Ste. Marie. It was as if the Creator was standing right there in my living room with me and he said, You quilt; do As news broke in May 2021 about the first 215 Indigenousthat, said Gnier, whose responsibilities kept her from joining childrens bodies found at Kamloops Indian Residential School,cross-country walks to make Canadians aware of the 215+.Gnier wanted to raise awareness in her own way. Fast forward to 2024, and Gniers non-profit Quilts for Survivors has made nearlyThrough social media, she asked people to send her quilt blocks. 5,000 quilts for Survivors of residential schools, day schools and theHer original goal was 216 donated blocksrepresenting the 215+ Sixties Scoop in Canada and the United States. childrento make into 18 quilts for First Nations communities.She recalled what was going on in her mind at the time in 2021. IA 16-and-a-half-inch block was a good size because theyre large, had a pain in my spirit, and I felt like I should do something, saidand it would make a quilt rather quickly, said Gnier. We 30Spring/Summer 2024'