Last week, I was fortunate enough to participate in delivering and awarding around 600 Quilts of Valor to Ft. Riley. 548 of these went to the 4-4 Cavalry Division. These men and women just returned from Afghanistan and had heavy casualties.
An officer told me today that there were 600 who deployed to Afghanistan. Of those 600, 8 were killed. Quilts were taken today to be given to the families of the fallen soldiers. Also, 143 Purple Hearts were awarded. Many soldiers received more than one Purple Heart.
It was a heartwarming experience to be able to see the faces of the soldiers as they picked out their quilts. I will never forget it.
The American Legion Riders escorted us.
This is my friend Elaine & me loading up the last of the quilts.
If you'd like to become involved in making Quilts of Valor & want more information, visit http://www.qovf.org for more information. If you are local, give me a shout. You can join my merry band of quilters.
2 comments:
That's pretty amazing, Nikki! It's great to see those guys smiling with their quilts!
We ARE a merry band of quilters here in Kansas City and have a jewel of a leader in Nikki whose enthusiasm for the QOV program is terribly contagious! As a 'career' Navy wife I love sharing our mutual respect and support for our military regardless of the branch of service. We can always use more quilters and community support which has been generous thus far in terms of donated monies, fabric and other supplies that allow us to make the treasured QOV's.
Post a Comment