Quilts of Valor

We recently had a distinguished gentleman, a hero if you will, stop into our office. He is in his eighties and is a veteran of the Vietnam War.

Rendered nearly blind, “Jack,” I will call him, was guided by his wife of more than 66 years into our conference room. There, he laid out the items he brought with him: a certificate that announced his award of a Quilt of Valor® (QOV) as well as a letter from one of his U.S. Senators congratulating him on his being honored by the Quilts of Valor® Foundation and thanking him for his service in the U.S. Marine Corps.

The reason Jack came into our office is because he had worked here for a short time in 1955 before joining the military. He was hoping that, since we recently welcomed our congressman to our factory, we would be able to help him obtain a letter from the congressman acknowledging Jack’s recent QOV award to go along with all of Jack’s other documents. We were happy to reach out on his behalf, of course, and the congressman’s office told us that they put a letter in the mail to Jack.

All of this had me wondering, what is a Quilt of Valor anyway?

In short, it’s a quilt made by volunteers that is presented to a veteran. These volunteers donate their time, materials, and skill to provide these beautiful quilts to someone who served our country. The idea is healing. “Quilts = healing!” is a sort of motto for the QOV Foundation.

It’s a beautiful program that has brought joy and comfort to more than 283,000 veterans to date. I now can say that I know one veteran who was very touched by the gesture.

If you want to learn more about the quilts or the QOV foundation, or, if you want to donate to their cause, you can learn more here:  https://www.qovf.org/ .

It was a real pleasure talking with Jack and hearing his stories. He has lived a life of honor, dedication, and sacrifice. I look forward to seeing him again. His full story needs to be told so that generations to come can learn what made Jack’s generation the Greatest Generation.