Catherine Roberts a Woman of Honor
"The Mission of the Quilts of Valor® Foundation is to cover Service Members and Veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor."
A little about the foundation. Quilts of Valor (QOV) began in 2003 by Catherine Roberts. Her son Nat was deployed in Iraq when she had a dream:
"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 well-being. The quilt had made this dramatic change. The message of my dream was: Quilts = Healing."
Catherine Roberts decided to have a volunteer team donate home made quilts to veterans. One person does the piece work and another quilts it. "A Quilt of Valor® (QOV) is a quality, handmade quilt that is machine or hand quilted. It is awarded to a Service Member or Veteran who has been touched by war. The Quilt says unequivocally, “Thank you for your service and sacrifice in serving our nation.”
There are high expectations for the makers of these quilts. The quilts must be quality-made and not a "charity quilt" as Catherine puts it. Excellence is to be used when quilting. It can be hand or machine quilted but never tied. There are specific patterns and regulations to follow. The receiving veteran must be nominated and recorded through the foundation for the quilt to be "awarded".
To use the term Quilt of Valor, the quilt must be a specific size and must have a label with required information. Catherine Roberts has found a way to say, "Thank you for your service", tangible and comforting.
If this article interests you there are many ways you can participate in this honorable tradition. You can join as an individual, as a group (like a quilting club), as a business owner or volunteer for the "LongArmy". You can join here: https://www.qovf.org/membership/
If you would like to participate in the making of the quilts the quilt patterns can be found here: https://www.qovf.org/quilt-patterns/ and the basic instructions are here: https://www.qovf.org/make-a-qov/ .
If you would like to know more about nominating or awarding a QOV you can find information here: https://www.qovf.org/
I have not shown photos from the website due to copyright laws, but I invite you to view the photos and help bring notice to a worthy cause. https://www.qovf.org/
You too can be a woman or man of honor and help make the lives of those who fight for our freedom feel welcome and comforted when they are home. Share and join if you can to this great foundation formed by a Notable Woman of History, Catherine Roberts.
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