Every year, the group raffle a quilt made by one or more of their members for a local charity, often raising more than $3000.

During the last five years the group has raised more than $10000 for the shire's not-for-profit organisations. In 2019 Backtrack benefitted from its efforts, in 2018 it was the Helping Children and Families Association and in 2017 it was Lifeline.

This year, their choice was to allocate the funds to Freeman House in Armidale which provides a wide range of residential services for people who are homeless and those with drug and alcohol addictions.

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St Augustine's Conference of St Vincent de Paul Society, which supports the work of Freeman House, welcomed the donation.

Conference president, Paul Robinson, said how pleased the conference was that Freeman House was the chosen recipient of the raffle proceeds.

Members of the conference assisted with selling tickets in the community.

"The raffle was an outstanding success," Mr Robinson said.

"While Freeman House is adequately funded to provide the basic rehabilitation services a return to normal life for residents is also dependent on reintegration into the community.

"This is where the donations like that from the Quilters play an especially important role as they enable enhancement programs to be run."

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mr Robinson said the additional things the money could go towards included such things as having exercise equipment available, social, cultural, and sporting outings, having access to creative outlets such as art, sporting organisation memberships and the like.

"Such activities provide opportunities to move back into the community and build networks which support residents once they leave Freeman House," he said.

Members of the Freeman House Participant Advisory Committee were asked how they would like to see the money used within the house.

"The residents have suggested that the funds made available through the Armidale Quilters efforts could be used for gym equipment such as pool weights, outings, and an artwork in the foyer area," Mr Robinson said.

The Quilters and Patchworkers of New England have run since the early 1980s. They meet every week at the Masonic Village - the day group on the first and third Thursday of the month, the night group on the second and fourth Wednesday.

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