SAN ANTONIO – How much do you love those viral Bernie memes? You could own a piece of pop-culture history and donate to a good cause at the same time thanks to one local woman’s quilting skills and love of iced coffee.
Those viral Bernie memes you’ve likely seen on the internet in recent weeks have now turned into an auction to benefit the San Antonio Food Bank.
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After Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders went viral for his inauguration look in a mask and mittens, he was photoshopped into every manner of photo - including some great San Antonio Bernie memes.
But the virality of the senator’s meme gave Beatrice “Betty” Pacheco an idea to get in on the Bernie hype and also give back to her local community.
“Apart from being a Sanders fan myself, I am a also huge advocate for paying it forward and helping our community in any way that we can. The success of turning his meme into a way to give back was inspirational to me,” said Pacheco.
She is referring to Sander’s philanthropic use of his inauguration meme to help raise money for charity. He started selling sweaters on his campaign website and will be donating the proceeds to Meals on Wheels Vermont. Read more on that here.
Pacheco, who said no act of kindness is too small to make a big difference in people’s lives, told KSAT on Tuesday that the quilt only took her one day to complete. “Once I dive into a creative project, I kind of have a hard time stopping. I’ll be at my sewing machine with fabric scissors in one hand and an iced coffee in the other and go to town until I completely finish a project,” she said.
She has listed her quilt on Ebay and plans to use donate all the proceeds from the sale to the San Antonio Food Bank.
Pacheco said she chose the food bank because she wanted to “choose an organization that could reach and impact as many people as possible. When the pandemic hit, I realized that there were a lot of families who had been economically impacted by job loss. Many many lives were changed and a lot of people who were dependent on their income to feed their families got completely turned around.”
She told KSAT that she has also sewn masks for neighbors and donated masks to one of the units at Children’s Hospital of San Antonio where her sister works as a nurse.
“I have been quilting for about 5-6 years now,” said Pacheco. “It was all self-taught by watching YouTube videos and reading books. As time went by, I discovered that I’m actually not too bad at it and my husband was the one who encouraged me to start sharing my work.”
Visit the Ebay listing to bid on the quilt here. The auction ends Friday.