Closing gift re-gift supports local Quilts of Valour work
Nothing says “home” and security like a hand-crafted quilt, and a special gift to Quilts of Valour Greenwood area crafters will help make that happen for a number of Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans in the weeks and months ahead.
When Bruce Gillis and Maureen Gillis sold their formerly shared home in January, EXIT real estate agent Val Connell was ready to give them a customary thank-you gift for having her as their agent.
Bruce, who works at 14 Wing Greenwood’s NPF accounting office, crossed paths with Corporal Stephanie Hill, with Wing Comptroller, who was describing her recent volunteer involvement with Quilts of Valour: Maureen was also a relatively new Quilts of Valour volunteer. Bruce and Maureen talked it over and asked Connell to consider gifting Quilts of Valour, instead of themselves.
May 23, Hill, Bruce, Maureen and another new volunteer, Corporal Jonas Cramm, with 413 (Transport and Rescue) Squadron; met Connell and local Quilts of Valour organizer Mary Ewing at Connell’s office to receive a $1,000 contribution, presented by Connell, with a top-up from Bruce and Maureen.
“We agreed it would be perfect,” Bruce said.
Maureen, a Quilts of Valour volunteer since February, says her mother was a quilter, and she herself has made quilts – “but I don’t know if I’m a quilter! My sister is a volunteer elsewhere in Nova Scotia, and I’ve now made two quilts for Quilts of Valour.”
Connell was happy to pass her thank you on to the non-profit, which depends on volunteers to make quilts and organize presentations to CAF members and veterans injured through their military service.
“I think this is a lovely cause – my heart is full,” Connell. “It’s their closing gift, and they wanted to give it on – this is a beautiful thing.”
Ewing says the funds will help volunteers buy supplies.
“Fabric – we need tonnes of it, and it is expensive,” she says. “We’re steady with projects and we have people on the list waiting to receive quilts. We present one or two a month, sometimes more.”
Hill, Cramm and Maureen are just as valuable as fabric, Ewing says, as their volunteer time and skills – raw or polished – add up.
“We have 60 quilt tops ready to be quilted,” Ewing says. “We’re always looking for long-arm volunteers (the long-arm sewing machine fastens the batting and backing to the top). We need hand-quilters, domestic or long-arm. We need people to iron and cut. We have jobs for everyone.”
If you are interested in volunteering with the Greenwood-area Quilts of Valour, the group meets monthly at the Kingston Legion. Contact Ewing, 902-825-6119, for details.
