County quilters honor military men, women

By Janet Redyke
AUGUSTA — Donna Lee Pollard sat calmly at her 1914 Singer sewing machine in the Richards Building at the Sussex County Fairgrounds during the New Jersey State Fair/ Sussex County Farm and Horse Show piecing together material squares containing written messages of love, prayers, healing thoughts and gratitude.
Eventually, the finished product would be a Quilt of Valor and would be presented to a military service member or veteran.
The Sussex County Quilters Quilts of Valor, in association with the Warwick Valley Quilters Guild, sews and awards quilts to service men and women all over the country, including those serving currently and veterans in veterans’ hospitals. With donated fabric, hours of work and signed material blocks from the Sussex County Fair for the past three summers, the guild and the quilters are able to provide this service to our military heroes.
Quilts of Valor was founded by Blue Star mom Catherine Roberts of Seaford, Del., in 2003, with her own son Nathanael in mind when he was deployed to Iraq. The mom’s desire was to see returning troops welcomed home with gratitude, appreciation and healing.
Nationally, as of June 2015, the Quilts of Valor Foundation had awarded 119,600 Quilts of Valor. According to the QOVF pamphlet and website, World War II veteran Al Lind became dedicated to making Quilts of Valor in 2007, and up until his death in 2010, he pieced together over 450 quilts awarded to veterans like himself.
Locally, Sussex County Quilters meet at the Vernon PAL building on the third Wednesday of every month to create these tributes.
For more information on Quilts of Valor, email caroljnusa@hotmail.com with QOV in the subject line.