Quilt of Valor awarded in Butler this morning

 

A special ceremony was held at Rocking Chair Quilts in Butler this morning hosted by owner Marsha Youngblood and Linda Martien of the Quilts for Valor foundation.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation began in 2003 with a dream, literally a dream. Founder Catherine Roberts’ son Nat was deployed in Iraq. According to Catherine:

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.

The model appeared simple: have a volunteer team who would donate their time and materials to make a quilt. One person would piece the top and the other would quilt it. I saw the name for this special quilt: it was Quilt of Valor, a QOV.

From the beginning, Catherine Roberts had definite ideas about standards of excellence for Quilts of Valor:

I knew a Quilt of Valor had to be a quality-made quilt, not a “charity quilt.” A Quilt of Valor had to be quilted, not tied, which meant hand or machine quilting. It would be “awarded,” not just passed out like magazines or videos, and would say unequivocally, “Thank you for your service, sacrifice and valor in serving our nation.”

A group of about 20 attended the ceremony this morning eager to learn more about the program which was followed with a special patriotic themed quilt presentation to Veteran Don Crawford of Clinton, Mo who was visibly humbled by the experience.

From seeing the enthusiasm for the program today, Youngblood says she is "working to expand the QOV program here, in the Bates county area and would like to make presentations to local veterans as well." With that, she said our local chapter has been named Sew Honored and those interested in helping should contact her at the shop located at 21 N. Main street in Butler.

QOV has presented nearly 400,000 such quilts in their existence and more every day. More information can be found at https://www.qovf.org/  

Marsha Youngblood, owner of Rocking Chair Quilts, quilt recipient

Don Crawford and QOV spokesperson Linda Martien