Quilts of Comfort

In addition to being a real estate agent, I am also a quilter. Quilters always have had a generous hearts, making a quilt to bring comfort to someone is what we do, who we are. We sent thousands of them to Katrina victims. The Linus organization, which gives quilts to kids who need comforting has delivered over 2,300,000 kids quilts to date and that is just a small portion of what goes on. We are as I post this message collecting and sending items to the folks in Cedar Rapids,Iowa area where the quilters there lost everything, even so simple an item as a pack of needles and a spool of thread. We hate the thought of a fellow quilter being without something to stitch on and so help to replenish their sewing supplies and bring comfort to their water weary hearts.

I have always contributed to those types of efforts but never really got my heart into it long term. Sort of like many folks do, just write a check and forget it, that was me. A little over a year ago, an online quilter friend of mine made a plea for help. She had a friend who was making quilts as fast as she could (over 100 a month) for the wounded soldiers being returned from the Mideast. The organization is called American Hero Quilts (http://americanheroquilts.com). I brought the project before my local group called the Heartland Quilters of Elkhart, thinking that maybe we could make a few quilts to donate. After we shipped our second box of quilts, I got a email back from the head of the organization, she told me about a young soldier named Aaron.

Aaron is not a native Hoosier..but a transplanted one. He spent the majority of his youth before going to war in the foster care system in Indiana. He met his future wife there and when he joined up, hoping to make a better life for himself and his family, they didn't count on him coming home minus an arm, an eye and 50% of his skin. Despite all that, when the quilt arrived from Elkhart County just for him with a label on the back that says "Thank you to an American Hero", he didn't want to take it, he didn't think he deserved to have such a beautiful thing.

I am proud to say that to date that I and the Heartland Quilters have donated over 50 quilts to comfort torn bodies and torn souls. I document all of the group quilts,you may see those photos at

http://news.webshots.com/album/560353754iIHaXL

We were extremely fortunate recently to have an article on the front page of the Elkhart Truth and also a short segment on WSBT Channel 22. Thanks to the generosity of the local residents,our work is able to continue. We vow to keep on stitching until they all come home. God Bless the soldiers and their families, who give up so much. God Bless our local supporters, without you our stitches would have come to an end far too soon.