I feel I MUST take the time here to let all who have seen the pictures of our soldiers with their new quilts and are new to our project know that:
The hugest majority of the total quilts sent to these soldiers are from members of this amazing board who have sewn and mailed tops and finished quilts; some of them have done so several times over.
Many members have sent fabric for backings and bindings. Some have sent checks to help with postage and supplies. Most have sent prayers and encouragement and emotional support, uplifting me just when I needed it most.
A few even came to Bedford VA one weekend in early November to sew with me!
When we started this call for help on September 4, I really thought I'd be sending about 18-20 quilts to Bert and his men. But within 72 hours of that first posting, I had received nearly 70 PMs from those here offering to help. Then when we learned that there were 128 men in this battery, we couldn't not cover them all!
I quickly realized this project was infinitely bigger than I was, that there was a divine hand in the whole process, that I was just the legs on the ground, and that the major part I was to play was to listen, pray, yield, and, most of all, to have unshakeable faith that He who starts a good work in you is faithful to complete it.
Monies and support rolled in almost effortlessly. Why, we even received "miles" of backing fabrics just recently from one of the major fabric companies!
And, just today, we heard that we will receive a gift of the batting joining tape recently discussed on the board, just when we needed it most.
Ideas and plans popped into my head in ways that let me know I had not dreamed them up, they'd been given.
The local newspaper, the local Welcome Center, local Ruritan clubs and quilt guilds, local churches, the Greek organizations at Lynchburg College, our American Legion, and Bedford's National Guard unit all joined the effort. Overwhelming!
I can not express to you how much fun it has been to see all these participants get blessed by their giving. The members of this board, some of whom are now close friends, have been the dearest, most caring, most generous, most amazing people I've met in so long a time.
Most of all I have learned that one just can not outgive a giver! I have gotten SO much more from this event than I have put into it! It embarrasses me to read your praises and blessings for my having taken on/spearheaded this Military Barracks Quilt Project when I KNOW that those of you here are the main movers and shakers of the effort, and without you, it truly NEVER would have gotten off the ground, much less become the awesome, love-filled, expansive gift to our military that it has.
Thank you all from the depths of my heart for all your love, I am awed and humbled.
Warmest love,
Jan in VA