Sunshine Quilters of Temecula was born in 2012. Debra Pudgil came up with the idea while caring for her mother who was battling terminal cancer. She met a lot of nice people during her mother’s many hospitalizations and chemotherapy treatments.
One thing Debra saw were a lot of terrified people, sitting in chairs, hooked up to numerous machines. Most of the people were alone and appeared to be cold. She learned that the treatment areas were deliberately kept cold to help control infections.
Debra knew that a quilt would not cure their cancer but it might help keep them warm and comfortable. She hoped the quilts would bring a little “SunShine” into their lives. That’s when SunShine Quilts of Temecula was born.
This group of women began sewing lap comfort quilts and delivered them to various cancer treatment centers in San Diego and Riverside counties. In March 2018 Debra moved to Spencer, NC and continued making lap sized quilts for adults along with child and baby quilts. Debra has been donating the quilts to the Ronald McDonald house of Charlotte NC. Since its inception they have delivered over 270 comfort quilts.
In January 2015, they also started making baby quilts and delivering them to Rady’s Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) located in Murrieta, California. Now the quilts are being delivered to the Ronald McDonald House in Charlotte NC.
As of November 2019, SunShine Quilters has delivered approximately 2100 baby quilts.