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REFLECTIONS

quilts of valor, steele county
QOVF celebrated a major milestone in April by awarding the 300,000th quilt to Craig M. of Cincinnati. Craig served in the United States Air Force from February 1992 to June 2000, earning the rank of staff sergeant. Photo courtesy of Quilts of Valor Foundation
Blooming Prairie leads the way with Quilts of Valor
By
Howard Lestrud, Contributing Writer

Blooming Prairies contributions to the Quilts of Valor Foundation are many.

Judy and I moved to Blooming Prairie in 2014, actually going back to our roots. I grew up on a small dairy farm just seven miles southwest of Blooming Prairie, and Judy came back to her roots, too, that being Ellendale.

One of our first community outings was to attend a Veterans Day program, which featured the distribution of 14 Quilts of Valor. These quilts were the first ever given by local veterans’ auxiliaries and the BP Servicemen’s Club.

More quilts will be given this Friday, Veterans Day. Joyce Johns, VFW Auxiliary president, will emcee this inspirational program once again.

Many women of the local auxiliaries and the Servicemen’s Club have sewn the quilts for veterans and their families who request them. Chris Butler has led the local drive for Quilts of Valor.

Lots of hugs

I love to be involved in the presentation of the quilts because I get lots of hugs,” laughs President Johns.

The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, according to its website, is to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation began in 2003 with a dream of founder Catherine Roberts. Her son Nat was deployed in Iraq at the time.

According to Catherine:

“The dream was as vivid as real life. I saw a young man sitting on the side of his bed in the middle of the night, hunched over.

The permeating feeling was one of utter despair. I could see his war demons clustered around, dragging him down into an emotional gutter. Then, as if viewing a movie, I saw him in the next scene wrapped in a quilt.

His whole demeanor changed from one of despair to one of hope and wellbeing. The quilt had made this dramatic change. The message of my dream was: Quilts = Healing.”

Judy and I were just amazed at this Veterans Day event that introduced us to the Quilts of Valor Foundation event. Since that time, Quilts of Valor have been routinely given on Memorial Day and again on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. The total stands well over 200.

That same night in 2014, we learned more about a fund drive getting under way to build a Veterans Memorial in Blooming Prairie. The goal was announced at $250,000. The memorial has now been built, and the financial goal has now exceeded $330,000.

More than 500 pavers have been placed on the memorial walls.

300,000th quilt

Blooming Prairie quilt creators can proudly claim that they have been part of the nationwide program that celebrated a major milestone by awarding the 300,000th quilt on April 20. The quilt recipient is Craig M. of Cincinnati, Ohio. Craig served in the U.S. Air Force from February 1992 to June 2000, earning the rank of staff sergeant.

Craig began his Air Force career in law enforcement and eventually became a resource protection officer.

In 1997, Craig cross-trained in broadcast journalism where he deployed as a combat journalist to numerous countries throughout Europe to include Kosovo, Albania, and Poland. During these deployments, he often found himself hanging out of a Chinook attack helicopter while covering Air Force news stories.

Throughout this time, Craig was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, and the National Defense Medal, along with other medals and ribbons.

Craig is now a news anchor with ABC affiliate WCPO in Cincinnati. The 300,000th quilt, awarded to Craig, was sewn by Michelle Nelson, QOVF’s Finance Director and former board member, and quilted by Lori Thompson, QOVF’s Executive Director.

QOVF will continue to celebrate the 300,000th QOV milestone by encouraging QOVF groups to make and award an honorary quilt to a veteran of their choice. Several QOVF groups have made awards and are sharing the stories of their quilts and award recipients. QOVF is encouraging groups to share their stories by emailing 300QOV@qovf.org. QOVF will be collecting the stories and creating a historical record.

Each local quilt takes about 20 hours to make, said local program originator Butler. 

As each quilt is given at the BP Servicemen’s Club, the VFW Auxiliary’s Johns offers these powerful words: Thank you for your service, sacrifice and valor in serving our nation.”

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