Wrapping Veterans in Gratitude: Chehalis Group Gives Back Through Sewing Talents

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Many people will donate to help a stranger.

But it’s an altogether different thing to give away $250 to help a stranger.

Yet that’s essentially what the members of the Veterans Memorial Museum Quilts of Valor Group do. It is estimated that each full-sized quilt they make costs about $250 in materials to make. Yet they say the price is small compared to what the veterans who are awarded these quilts paid through their service.

“This is a way to say thank you,” said member Susy Carpenter.

The local Quilts of Valor group was founded just one month ago by Lynn Wiltzius and Faye Matson, who had both participated in the national organization’s mission through the Ruby Street Quiltworks QOV out of Tumwater.

Nationwide, QOV has 528 groups comprising 8.373 members and 107 quilt shops, all aimed at making handmade quilts to honor veterans. 

Since being started in 2003, QOV has awarded more than 200,000 quilts to veterans throughout the U.S. Any veteran of the armed forces can be nominated to receive a quilt and many of the recipients are veterans whose lives were touched in some way by war. According to the national organization, quilts are “awarded” at special public ceremonies, rather than given or presented, to recognize the sacrifices the veteran made for his or her country.



“Quilts of Valor is our expression of gratitude to service men and women,” Matson said.

Wiltzius and Matson explained that they started the Chehalis based QOV chapter because the Tumwater group is so close to Joint Base Lewis/McChord and members there wanted to focuses on needs within the two bases as well as group projects in the Thurston County area. Since there are no other QOV groups between Olympia and Portland, many of the veterans who lived south of Olympia were on a waiting list for years waiting for a Quilt of Valor to become available for them.

“We wanted to be able to focus more on the individual presentations,” Wiltzius said.

Ruby Street will supply the new QOV group with batting and backing materials until April to help the group get started but they are currently looking for quilters as well as donations of quilting materials. For now, the all-volunteer quilter group will have monthly business meetings and the quilters will work on their quilt tops at home. Eventually the group hopes to be able to hold gatherings where they can work on the sewing together. Quilts need to be 60-inches by 80-inches and can be made in any pattern but must be high-quality cotton fabric in primarily red, white and blue and gender-neutral. Quilters need make only a quilt top and a volunteer with a long-arm quilting machine will quilt the creation.

The local QOV chapter held its first-ever award ceremony Wednesday, awarding quilts to two Kelso-area veterans. Members said they hope to be able to present two to five quilts each month. They are hoping not only to find community support through donations, but also through local families nominating veterans for these special creations that are really a labor of love for many of the quilters. Local QOV member Shirley Taylor’s own participation was inspired by her husband’s more than 27-year Air Force Career.

“It’s just a wonderful thing to do for the people who served our country,” she said.