For more than 15 years, Virginia Ann Meldrum Maw has turned a simple sewing machine, colorful flannel and a heart for children into an extraordinary legacy of service.
A Davis County resident, Virginia was honored with the 2025 Power of Service Award for her remarkable commitment to the children and families of Primary Children’s Hospital. Since 2010, she has donated more than 500 handmade quilts to children receiving care at the hospital, with no plans to stop anytime soon. In fact, Virginia has set her sights on making 1,000 quilts.
Her journey began when her teenage granddaughter, Lauren, chose Primary Children’s Hospital for a service project. Virginia helped Lauren make quilts for children at the hospital and quickly fell in love with the hospital’s philosophy of putting the child first and always. When the service project ended, Virginia’s service did not.
For the past 15 years, she has continued making and donating quilts, each one carefully designed and sewn by hand. Her work has become a heartfelt contribution to the atmosphere of love and concern that surrounds children receiving care at Primary Children’s. At 85, Virginia continues to sew despite living with macular degeneration and being unable to drive. As she puts it, “I am almost blind in one eye, and I can’t drive; but I can sew.” And sew she does.
Virginia’s motivation is deeply personal. She says she was blessed with five healthy children and wants to give something back. “If I can make a kid happy and help them get healthy with a quilt, I’m gonna,” she says. For Virginia, serving others is not something she views as extraordinary. It is simply something she feels called to do.
“I have to sew,” she says.
Every Quilt Is a Gift From the Heart
Nurses at Primary Children’s have described Virginia’s quilts as works of art. Each quilt is completely original. Virginia personally selects every piece of flannel fabric and develops each pattern in her mind. Every stitch is guided by her hand using a state-of-the-art sewing machine equipped with a laser, rather than a programmable quilting machine.
Nurse Gretchen Parker describes Virginia’s quilts as “a beautiful gift from an anonymous person made from the heart.” That care is evident in every detail. Virginia is particular about the materials she uses, insisting that every quilt be made with flannel. “It’s gotta be flannel,” she says. “Can you imagine a kid getting better with ‘stiffy’ cotton?!” For Virginia, children deserve the very best.
She has also declined offers from others to pay for her quilting materials. Virginia believes she has been blessed with the means, ability and desire to provide the quilts herself. The cost is significant. Flannel fabric and batting alone can cost thousands of dollars each year, but Virginia considers it part of her commitment to service.
A Legacy Still Being Sewn
Virginia’s goal of 1,000 quilts represent a lifetime of choosing to make a difference, one child and one quilt at a time. She has already surpassed 500 handmade quilts and is determined to make another 500.
Her story is a powerful reminder that service does not have to look the same for everyone. For Virginia, service happens at a sewing machine, through carefully chosen fabric and countless hours spent creating something that might bring comfort and happiness to a child facing illness. Her generosity extends beyond her time and talent. Through the thousands of dollars she has personally invested in materials, Virginia has also become a philanthropist in her own right.
Most importantly, she has created a legacy of kindness that will continue to reach children long after each quilt leaves her hands. She has found what she can give, and she continues to give it wholeheartedly. One quilt at a time.
Published November 28, 2025