Photo of the t-shirt quilt.

At the annual Trivia Night for Hearts hosted by the Children’s Heart Foundation on March 16, a quilt was auctioned off for $2,200. What made this quilt special? It was made from the t-shirts of children with congenital heart defects. One of those children is Triston Walls, a first grader at Ste. Genevieve Elementary.

Triston’s mom, Carrie Walls, said that last year, a group of moms decided to donate a basket of their children’s t-shirts for auction. This year, they decided to go an extra step and create a quilt showcasing the strength and resilience of their young heart warriors. Parishioners from the First Baptist Church of Owensville lent a hand by helping with the sewing. Each shirt also represents all of the hospital stays and surgeries, and the hospital staff who accompany the families through the hard journey. Along with the quilt, the moms created a book to accompany it, with each child’s story included.

The Children’s Heart Foundation hosts the event each year, where teams raise money by buying a table. This year, the family that bid the highest for the quilt decided to donate it to the St. Louis Children’s Hospital, where it will hang on display.
“The Children’s Heart Foundation trivia night is by far one of my favorite nights of the year,” Carrie Walls says. “One of the absolute best things to come out of this incredibly hard journey with Triston is the love and connection we get with other heart families.”