NHCC’s ‘Quilters of Hope’ was part of an effort, in 2006, to provide women infected with HIV/AIDS with a stable, sustainable income. NHCC staff identified a group of at least twenty women who requested that the organization provide full-time, 24-hour care to their young children whilst they pursued employment opportunities, often in distant provinces.

In response, NHCC founded a ‘daycare’ program for those children too young to attend public school while their parents went to work. Single females, trusting that their children were being well cared for, unexpectedly left the children for long periods of time, which significantly departed from the intended purpose of the daycare.

Identifying a need for local employment opportunities for low skilled workers, NHCC implemented a quilting project in Tahkmao near Phnom Penh city.. Utilizing skills that Kathy Tucker acquired as the director of the “Patches of Hope” project, a group of twenty HIV/AIDS infected women have been trained and employed by “Quilters of Hope” since 2007. All are widows with children.

Since inception, the quilters have produced 5000 blankets, which have are sold for $25 to $50 US dollars. Their products are sold through networks established and maintained in America, the United Kingdom and Australia.

The sale of these quilts allows NHCC to provide these widows a living wage adequate to support themselves and their children thus allowing these children to stay with their mothers.