Founded in 2003 by Catherine Roberts, mother of an Army soldier deployed to Iraq who wanted her son and others welcomed home with love and gratitude, Quilts of Valor has spread nationwide. As of the first of 2016, nearly 200,000 Quilts of Valor have been presented to veterans. From her sewing room in Seaford, Delaware, Catherine’s idea of linking quilt top makers with machine quilters has achieved her goal of awarding healing quilts to returning service men and women touched by war.
On February 3, 2016, quilts were presented to about twenty-five veterans in North Carolina by the local Group in Cabarrus County. Group is the designated term for local area quilters who make the quilts and arrange the presentation programs. Quilts are all made by local volunteer groups and are sewn with materials provided at no cost by the QOV Foundation now headquartered in Lilburn, Georgia.
The Veterans honored included myself and only one other WW II veteran, who was a 97-year-old former WAC whose service assignment was de-coding of messages! Other veterans there served from Korea to Afghanistan. The Certificate presented with the Quilt reads:
On behalf of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, In recognition of your service and sacrifice for
This nation it is a privilege to serve Honor and comfort upon you through The award of a Quilt of Valor Though we may never know the depth of your sacrifice to Protect and defend The United States of America, as a gesture Of gratitude from a grateful nation We award this Quilt to Valor to Thomas L. Burgess
Each Quilt of Honor is an individual work of art and no two are alike. Before the presentation program began, each veteran was asked to pick the quilt we wanted to receive from a large display. When presented, the quilt was wrapped around our shoulders with the expressed hope that it would give us a warm feeling of appreciation from the QOV Foundation and the volunteer who made the quilt.
Go to www.QOVF.org/group to locate and contact the nearest group to learn of plans for future presentations and provide names of WW II veterans for award consideration. Consider donating at www.QOVF.org/donate