Georgia Commits to Quilts of Valor in a Big Way

Elsie Dixon, Macon Georgia, (the woman being interviewed with the tiara), turned 88 that very day and was made Queen QOV'r for the Day.

Elsie is a long arm quilter and quilted the first quilt and the last quilt that we quilted on a Gammill Professional Longarm Quilting Systems during the weekend. Susan Gordan, Regional coordinator for North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia for the Quilts of Valor Foundation, stated the group quilted 16 quilts during their recent gathering and completed 78 more tops and backings to go to long armers across the state for final finishing.

Request A Destination-Just Do It!

We’ve all heard the stories….. A facility or hospital has “hundreds” of QOVs stuffed in a closet and these quilts are not reaching our wounded heroes. These stories spread very quickly through email or Yahoo groups and they negatively affect overall participation in Quilts of Valor. Sadly, there may be some truth behind these stories and since we all want to know that, the quilts we have made are comforting a deserving service member, not languishing in a closet somewhere, requesting a destination through the qovf.org website is more important than ever.

One thing to keep in mind is the volunteers and service members who serve as our Points of Contact (POCs) often have limited space to store Quilts of Valor which is why they request only a certain amount of quilts be sent to them either weekly or monthly. They also know approximately how many recipients will pass through their facility in a given time. Going through Destination Coordination reduces the likelihood of a facility receiving too many, or too few, quilts since assignments are being coordinated across the country and overseas.

POCs and their situations change frequently as their tours end or they are reassigned elsewhere. It is easier if the POC only has to notify the Destination Coordinator of their replacement or their new address, instead of trying to contact everyone who has sent them quilts in the past. We have received word of quilts “following” a POC to their new assignment for months after they have moved on. Unfortunately, they are sometimes not in a position to present QOVs and have to arrange for the quilts to be shipped back to their correct destination. Obviously, this is inefficient and delays the presentation of the quilts.

New POCs and destinations are being developed monthly and going through Destination Coordination allows these new destinations to receive the quilts they need in a timely and coordinated manner. This also includes “one-time” events such as Welcome Home Initiatives and retreats. The other side of this is that as operations wind down in certain parts of the war zones (or hospitals close) a certain destination may no longer be valid at all.

I understand many quilters want their quilts to go to service members in their own states and as such it may be tempting to send or deliver their quilts directly to their “local” facility. However, if we want to eliminate “that closet” and know that our quilt(s) are going to the destination where the need is greatest at any given time; please consider Requesting a Destination for your completed QOVs at http://www.qovf.org/req-destination.html.

Thank you,

Marcella Pirner-Cormier

Destination Coordinator

Stats from July show that more quilts are needed to fill destination requests:

July Destination Coordination Statistics

(does not include “local reports”)

Monthly Standing Requests

Qty requested = 106

Qty fulfilled = 115

Weekly Standing Requests

Qty requested = 65 a week/260 a month

Qty fulfilled

July 3-9 12

July 10-16 72

July 17-23 13

July 24-30 8

Total 105

Shortage 155

Individual Requests

Qty requested = 21

Qty fulfilled = 16

“One-time” Group Requests

Qty requested = 20

Qty fulfilled = 15

Thank You

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

#135 for Mildred!

Here, for your inspiration, is another beautiful top made by Mildred Sherreitt.

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