Quilts of Valor, a national nonprofit that provides homemade quilts for service members and veterans touched by war, held a moving ceremony in Oldsmar last week.
The Quilts of Valor Foundation is a national nonprofit founded in 2003 by Blue Star mom Catherine Roberts of Delaware as a way to welcome home soldiers returning from service with a small token of love and gratitude.
Since then, the organization has grown to include military service members and veterans touched by war, with branches in states all over the country, including one in Tampa.
During the Oldsmar City Council meeting on Dec. 6, Ginger Messer and two QOV Tampa members presented custom-made quilts to seven Oldsmar veterans and service members, including City Clerk Ann Nixon, Leisure Services Director Lynn Rives and former mayor and current City Council member Jerry Beverland, in what could only be described as a very moving ceremony.
“(Catherine) had this vision, literally, of a service person sitting on a cot somewhere, just kind of all dejected and really sad, and then she had a vision of that same person with a quilt wrapped around, sitting rather proud, and that’s what started this organization,” Messer explained.
Messer went on to say that every quilt has a unique story, each sewn with care by a team of volunteers with the intention of honoring the recipients for their service in the United States military, thanking them for their sacrifice and providing comfort to them when they are back home.
“We hope you will keep this as a tangible reminder that no matter where you served, you are on our minds and in our hearts and prayers, and you have never been forgotten,” Messer said as her assistants wrapped the veterans in their colorful, patchwork quilts.
“Thank you for your selfless sacrifice.”
The significance of the moment was not lost on those in the room.
“Thank you for bringing that to Oldsmar,” Mayor Doug Bevis said. “That was very nice.”
Vice-Mayor Eric Seidel took his praise one step futher.
“To me, that was one of the more moving presentations that we’ve had,” Seidel said during his Council Comments at the conclusion of the meeting. “It was good.”
Beverland, who enlisted in the Army in 1954, later admitted that being presented with the quilt caught him by surprise.
“I had no idea they were going to do that,” he said by phone this week. “I thought they were calling down the whole council. I was so surprised I damn near cried!”
He also explained how a simple item like a quilt could possesses so much meaning.
“Because somebody remembered,” Beverland said.
“You don’t solicit something like that.”
According to Messer, the Quilts of Valor Foundation has awarded 151,073 quilts to American military service men and women since it was founded in 2003.
For more in formation on the organization, visit their website at qovf.org.
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