Home of: Kathy Klinge

ST. IGNATIUS  — With hard times at the doorstep, our newest president spoke to the spirit of giving back and community volunteerism being more important than ever. This is something Kathy Klinge already knows, and a philosophy she has been actively carrying out for years.

In fact, if it weren’t for volunteers, the 39-year-old St. Ignatius woman may not have her health or her house today.

On the night of March 4, 2004, Klinge was driving home after working at All In Stitches — where she has worked for six years and been manager now for two. Heading up the Polson Hill, her tires lost traction on some slush causing her Jeep to slide into the ditch, rolling twice before coming to a rest topside up.

The driver behind Klinge just so happened to be a Dixon volunteer firefighter, who called in the crash and had a Ronan firefighter on scene in minutes followed by several Polson volunteer firefighters minutes later. She never even got the volunteer’s name, but he was there — a perfect stranger — to help her in a time of extreme need.

Klinge was in shock with minor injuries from the rollover, but the volunteers took care of her, getting her into the ambulance, to the hospital and ensuring that she walked away with her health from the crash.

“These guys come out on the worst occasions, and they show up and take care of you,” Klinge said. “They were fabulous.”

Later that fall, Klinge was approached by the Polson Fire Ladies Auxiliary with the idea of making a quilt to auction off at the department’s Firemen’s Ball. With her indebted gratitude to the volunteers who protected her that night, Klinge pitched in and she made auction item quilts for the annual fundraiser for the following five years.

Near tragedy struck again, though, for Klinge when her home caught fire on Dec. 15 of last year. The fire electrical fire was contained to the ceiling as St. Ignatius volunteer firefighters were on the scene in no time to save her home.

“They even took all the family pictures off the walls and put them in the  kitchen so they wouldn’t be damaged,” Klinge said. “They did all this at 2:15 in the morning, put out the fire, and then they apologized for the mess — these guys are all truly amazing compassionate and caring people.

“They are volunteers and they do it not because they have to, but because they love it. They take care of us on the worst days of our lives.”

The home was saved and only two months later the Klinge family were back in their house. Klinge was not able to donate a quilt to the ball this year under the chaotic timing of the circumstances, but said she will continue to do so from now on, not only for Polson but for the St. Ignatius Volunteer Fire Department also.

“I consider it an honor to be able to help out in any way I can,” Klinge said.

Instead of Klinge’s donation, a quilt was donated by the Mission Mountain Quilt Guild to the ball this year — with the department turning around the proceeds from the quilt on top of a generous member donation to give Klinge $400 to help float some bills or groceries in her time of need.

Polson Fire Ladies Auxiliary President Kara Bishop said Klinge’s yearly auction items had always been the top fundraiser for the department at the ball and wanted to reward her nature of giving amongst bad fortune.

“It’s always such a great gift from her each year and an awesome acknowledgment from someone in the community,” Bishop said. “We’re all volunteers with other jobs. You save people, pets, and homes but often times people won’t even talk to you on the street the next day.

“We all have talents that we’re good at and Kathy has always been there and said ‘here I can do this to help,’” Bishop added. “It’s people like Klinge with her unending gratitude who pull these guys through and keep them going.”

But Klinge’s volunteerism doesn’t stop there. Part of the money she received from the department went to buy materials to make quilts to donate to new-born infants at St. Luke Hospital. Klinge has done this out of the goodness of her heart for over seven years now.

One day she was told by a friend who works at the hospital that a mother had to take her child home in an old bathrobe because it was all she had to wrap her in. That story pulled at Klinge’s heartstrings and sprung her into action.

“When I heard that I said, ‘I can’t fix a lot in the world, but I can fix that,’” Klinge said. 

The quilting tradition was one that she picked up from her grandmother who always sewed her items as a kid.

“When I’m having a really rough day, that afghan she made me is probably the first thing I reach for — because it brings such comfort to know that someone else cared for you so much to make this with their hands,” Klinge said. “It’s amazing the comfort a quilt gives you.”

Klinge says she gets fulfillment out of her giving to good causes, but adds that her actions are not uncommon of quilters everywhere.

“When you do what I do, you want everyone in the world to have a comfy quilt,” Klinge said. The quilter explained that she also gives quilts away out of necessity, as her family can not possibly put to use all of the quilts she wants to make. But each quilt is different and each strand sewn is done so with love. Enough love to put in the hours of hardwork for a complete stranger that she will most likely never meet, and ,as she says, doesn’t need to.

“My philosophy in life is that we’re here to help each other, and if I can do one thing to improve someone else’s situation then I’ve done my job,” she said.