LI Culture Post

Remembering the Marcelo Lucero Killing, Residents Seek To Mend Hearts With Quilting Project

Posted October 7, 2010 by Ted Hesson

Nearly two years have passed since Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero was attacked and killed in a hate crime perpetrated by a group of teens who were out “beaner hopping” in Patchogue. But for many area residents, the horror of the crime still reverberates.

One of those residents is Diana Berthold, who began channeling her concerns through an unlikely medium: quilting.

“We were just appalled by what happened,” Berthold told Patchogue Patch in a September 17 article. “Everyone has something positive they can give, and I felt this is what I could do to create something positive for Patchogue,” she said.

In conjunction with the Patchogue-Medford Library and the Patchogue Village Parks Department, Berthold turned the quilt concept into a community arts project in early 2010, eventually enlisting 20 local women. After months of work, the endeavor—eventually dubbed the Healing Hands & Mending Hearts Quilt Project—yielded three quilts, which were unveiled at a September 14 event at the Patchogue American Legion Post.

“Most of the participants didn’t know each other when it started,” said Lori Devlin, a Village of Patchogue trustee who helped promote the project. “Some people had a quilting background and some did not.”

Playback Long Island performs at the Healing Hands & Mending Hearts quilt unveiling. (Photo courtesy of Playback Long Island)

The unveiling event at the library attracted roughly 50 people, including Marcelo Lucero’s brother, Joselo, and attendees participated in an improv theater performance by Playback Long Island. As part of the performance, residents were asked to express their emotions about the project, with the improv troupe then physically embodying those emotions on stage. The Patchogue-Medford High School Latin Dance Club also performed at the event.

One aspect of the quilt-making didn’t go exactly according to plan. Although the project sought to involve an ethnically diverse range of residents in the area, the Latino community was sparsely represented, with only one Hispanic quilter. “We had hoped for more of that, but for whatever reason that community maybe didn’t hear about it,” Devlin said.

The likely next step for the project is to spread the word about the quilt in the Patchogue-Medford area, and several churches have already expressed interest in putting it on display.

Tags : hate crimes, healing hands & mending hearts quilt project, marcelo lucero, medford, patchogue

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