National Quilts of Valor Sew Day draws 30 area participants
Sewing machines whirred all through First United Methodist Church while quilters cut, ironed and sewed bits of fabric into elaborate quilt tops for veterans.
Susan Richmond, regional chair for Quilts of Valor, said the National Quilts of Valor Sew Day is nationwide with quilters across the country participating.
The local group, a subset of the Calico Cut Ups quilting guild, had roughly 30 participants last Sunday.
“We’re sewing all across the United States.”
The local chapter awarded 30 quilts last year, she said, and nationally the program awarded 33,375.
“It’s really grown,” she said. Anyone who knows a veteran who would like to be recognized can submit information to the program on its website at qovf.org. If anyone would like to join the quilters, they meet at First United Methodist Church on Boyce Drive, on the first Tuesday of each month at 1 p.m.
It’s a lot of work to put together quilts, but it’s a very rewarding hobby.
“They really appreciate it,” she said.
Fellow volunteer Shirley Jenkins agreed.
“It feels great,” she said. Jenkins said she has sewn 51 quilts for the program.
“I love to sew and I can’t afford
to keep sewing and I don’t need any more quilts,” she said.
Among the quilts she’s made, Jenkins said the one that sticks out is one she made for and presented to her brother who lives in South Carolina.
“It was a very special meet,” she said.
Another volunteer, Janet Rice, served in the Navy through the 1980s and has spent most of her life in and around the military, and was presented with a quilt herself.
The presentation was during a Veterans Day program at her granddaughter,
Teagan Welch’s elementary school. she said.
“I was still very emotional, very overwhelmed,” she said.
While she didn’t serve directly in any conflicts, Rice said she was a hospital corpsman and took care of sick and injured people on-base.
She also took care of individuals injured in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing.
“That’s kind of hard
to give them hope when they’re missing arms and legs,” she said. “We were all in our 20s. You have your whole life ahead of you.”
Rice said this program means a lot to her and she’s glad to participate.
It gives her a sense of community and camaraderie that seems rare outside of base life and a way to give back to fellow service members.
“Definitely put a little extra love in the blocks when
I make them and hope the veterans who receive them know that they are loved,” she said.