Mary Matton was so touched by the traveling exhibit of 52 art quilts interpreting Alzheimer's disease that she decided she wanted to help.
Besides, the project involved two of her favorite things, charity and quilting, she said.
"I am always looking for a good cause to which I can donate quilts," said Matton, 61, of Davidsonville. "And I find Alzheimer's to be a very scary disease. It's scarier than cancer. You're here, but not mentally."
Matton and about 20 other members of the Annapolis Quilting Guild are participating in the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, a grass-roots effort begun in January 2006 to increase awareness and fund research to help find a cure for Alzheimer's.
Founded by Ami Simms, a professional quilter from Flint, Mich., the project operates under the auspices of a new nonprofit organization and is divided into two parts.
The first is Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece, a traveling exhibit comprising 52 quilts that interpret the disease. The exhibit started in 2006 and will travel around the country through 2009.
The second part is Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts, a program for which quilts are made and then sold or auctioned to raise money for Alzheimer's research. The quilts are small enough to fit, unfolded, in a U.S. Postal Service priority envelope.
Simms started the program after her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, she said. Alzheimer's is a fatal disorder that destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior.
Alzheimer's is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States, and more than 5 million Americans live with the disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association, which was established in 1980.
As Simms watched the disease's effect on her mother, she said, she became angry.
"I thought it would be a good idea to channel that anger into something good," said Simms, who travels across the country with the quilt exhibit, and gives speeches and lectures on quilting.
Simms set a three-year goal of raising $75,000. The response from quilters nationwide far exceeded her wildest expectations, she said.
More than $150,000 has been raised nationwide from the sale of the quilts since the inception of the program. They sell for $10 to $275 each, Simms said.
Until this month, all money raised went to the Alzheimer's Association. The program has grown so rapidly, however, that Simms plans to award $5,000 grants to research projects, she said.
