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'QUILTS OF VALOR' Volunteers show gratitude by sewing quilts for National Guard Ashlanders prepare handmade, heartfelt tokens for presentation to 300 returning service men and women Comment By Roberta Kent For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Roberta Kent For the Tidings Posted Feb. 5, 2015 at 7:30 PM Updated Feb 5, 2015 at 7:31 PM By Roberta Kent For the Tidings Posted Feb. 5, 2015 at 7:30 PM Updated Feb 5, 2015 at 7:31 PM » RELATED CONTENT What do you think? --> Have an opinion on this issue? Send a letter to the editor at www.dailytidings.com/sendletter. » Read more X What do you think? Have an opinion on this issue? Send a letter to the editor at www.dailytidings.com/sendletter . • Ashland-based regiment prepares to depart for Afghanistan • VIDEO: Mobilization ceremony for 1/186th Oregon Army National Guard... • National Guard gets ceremonial send off • Oregon Guard 1/186th gears up to deploy to Afghanistan » Social News When the 300 members of the First Battalion of the 186th Infantry of the Oregon National Guard return to Ashland in July from their deployment in Afghanistan, members from the Southwestern Oregon region of the Quilts of Valor Foundation plan to present each man or woman with a handmade, personalized quilt.  The quilts are all made by volunteering local individuals or quilting groups. Wednesday, 20 members from the Ashland quilting group, Hands All Around, devoted their weekly sewing session to making quilts for the presentation ceremonies.  So far, the Southwestern Oregon region of Quilts of Valor has finished 60 quilts towards the 300 needed.  “Even a ‘quick quilt’ takes days and days to make,” says Hands All Around member Linda Frisbey.  “We need a lot more people sewing quilts,” adds quilter Janice De Chant.  The Quilts of Valor Foundation’s mission is “to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.” As of the beginning of 2015, the foundation has awarded over 113,000 quilts.  Quilts of Valor dates to 2003 when Catherine Roberts, a Delaware home-quilter whose son was deployed to Iraq, started organizing quilters in her own area. The movement rapidly became a nationwide grassroots community service effort.  The volunteer quilters purchase the material for their own project. In Southern Oregon, local quilting businesses, including So Creative in downtown Ashland, Cottage Quilts in Medford and Fasturn in Jacksonville, have been generous with their donations of gift certificates, fabric, finished “tops” (quilts without batting or backing) and completed sample quilts.  This year, the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua, the Native American tribe that operates Seven Feathers Casino, provided a grant of more than $3,000 to pay for batting for the quilts.  Cindy Roché, the Quilts of Valor Foundation’s Southwestern Oregon regional coordinator, has been a member of Hands All Around since 1998. She got involved in the foundation in the summer of 2012 when she attended a quilt presentation for returning members of the 173rd Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls from their deployment to Afghanistan.  The Quilts of Valor Foundation requires each quilt to conform to strict standards. The quilts must be made from high quality, 100 percent cotton fabric and low-loft, quality batting. Volunteers select their own patterns from choices on Quilts of Valor’s website or from their own pattern sources. The colors must be red, white and blue or earth tones. The quilts cannot be rag quilts or flag replicas and the pattern must be gender neutral and “appropriate for an adult.” The quilts may vary in size from a minimum of 55 by 65 inches to a maximum of 72 by 90 inches, the size of a twin bed.  “These quilts are not for covering a bed. They are for wrapping a warrior,” says Roché. “We want these troops to know that somebody cares, that they are not forgotten.”  “This year, we have been really slammed for quilts,” says Roché. “Over 1,000 troops from Oregon were deployed to Afghanistan in the last 12 months.”  Roché attended the Ashland battalion’s pre-deployment event, a town hall meeting on the deployment and the actual mobilization. She described the program to the soldiers and asked each of them what kind of a quilt they might like to receive. Two-thirds of the responses were for patriotic themes in red, white and blue, while one-third requested outdoor motifs like hunting or fishing. Other than very specific requests made by a soldier or a soldier’s relative, the men and women get to choose a quilt from a selection. Each quilt has a Quilts of Valor Foundation label sewn on the back with the name of the quilt’s stitcher, quilter and binder and the date of presentation. The recipient’s name is then added. The label may not contain a political or religious message.  Roché treasures the notes she has received from quilt recipients, expressing what the quilts mean to them.  “I want to thank all the ladies who participated in the making and presenting me with this quilt. It means more to me than the ribbons I received, for it was given by people who care,” says one card.  Another note, from a retired Air Force major, concluded, “This was truly the most moving tribute I have received for my 20 years of service.” Roberta Kent is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Reach her at [email protected]. By Roberta Kent For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Roberta Kent For the Tidings Posted Feb. 5, 2015 at 7:30 PM Updated Feb 5, 2015 at 7:31 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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