I received a quilt of Valor after returning home from Iraq in the summer of 2007. I was part of some 2,000 Minnesota National Guardsmen returning from a long deployment (15months in country). I received my QOV while demobbing at Fort McCoy. I am curious as to the history behind the Quilt of Valor. I still have mine and it looks as good as new when I received it that day. Thank you for all that you do!
Take care and God Bless you!
Nathan
Monday, July 11, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Too Many Flowery, Feminine QOVs
As some of you may know, I took over as Destination Coordinator for QOVF at the beginning of June. I have been lucky to see pictures of many of the beautiful quilts that are being made to honor our service members and, while the learning curve of destination coordination has been steep, I think I mostly have things under control now.
One thing, however, that continues to cause issues is trying to find suitable destinations for all the feminine quilts that are being made. Women make up approximately 15% of our military and as such, account for a correspondingly small number of needed quilts. Since the beginning of June, two of the facilities that were accepting feminine quilts have told me they have a 7 or 8 month supply on hand and have asked me to stop sending them until they can work through the backlog.
A new destination in Germany, that has requested 15 quilts a week, mentioned that only about 1 in 30 service members coming through their facility is a woman and told me that it would be easier to just have patriotic quilts on hand since they are appropriate for all service members.
I would like to ask everyone to keep this information in mind when planning your own or your groups next Quilts of Valor since patriotic (non-floral) quilts are by far the most popular with all service members.
Thanks
Marcella Pirner-Cormier
Destination Coordinator
Quilts of Valor Foundation
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