Kris Prass (left) and Linda Crum (right) displaying one of the group’s project quilts
Sheri Nockels
The SaddleBrooke Friday Quilters are extremely proud of our military veterans. To honor them, we do what we do best—make quilts! This is our way of letting the veterans know how grateful we are for their service and sacrifices.
The 10-member Quilt of Valor Committee, co-chaired by Kris Prass and Karen Pearce, typically honors 10 veterans annually. Because of the large number of SaddleBrooke veterans, we doubled our goal to award 20 quilts this year. Due to our club’s dedication and drive to honor more veterans, expert quilting, and Kris and Karen’s leadership, we not only reached our goal, we exceeded it by 12 quilts! Now we have 32 quilts to present at our 2023 ceremony and get us off to a roaring start in 2024!
Club and nonclub members contributed their amazing skills to achieve this remarkable goal. Each quilt is unique and meets the National Quilt of Valor Foundation requirements, including a personalized label with the veteran’s name, service, and quilt information. Sixteen were made by Quilt of Valor Committee members, about half our members made six quilts on group sew days, another six were donated by individual members, and four were donated by quilters outside our club (including some from quilters outside SaddleBrooke)! Eight quilters with longarm quilting machines were crucial to our success!
We identified 20 veterans who will be awarded quilts in the October ceremony. Once identified, a Quilt of Valor Committee member met with each veteran to get to know them and explain the Quilt of Valor program and ceremony. The ceremony begins with the Pledge of Allegiance and the American Legion Color Guard taking the ceremony to the highest level as they present and later retire the colors (U.S. flag). It’s a very patriotic, moving ceremony enjoyed by all. Refreshments follow. Although we have to limit attendees to veterans and their guests, we’ll bring the ceremony to life for you via a future article!
If you know a veteran who might be interested in receiving a quilt, please contact Kris Prass at [email protected] or Karen Pearce at [email protected].