Quilts for Ft. Hood Update

I blogged earlier sending you to Cherry Quilt House blog .... who corrdinated efforts to get quilts to Ft. Hood. Quilts were collected for all the wounded and deceased. Please keep all of the families in your prayers.

Here's a couple photos of quilts. These quilts were from the the HGTV quilters forum.













Also Cherri posted the following from the Ft. Hood newspaper:

All stitched up: Mom, friends make quilts for wounded troops
Share By Staff Sgt. Joy Pariante, STB, III Corps

When the Fort Hood community was most in need of support, a crafty lady came up with a way to show her love for Soldiers.

Cherri House, of Houston, was driving home from work Thursday when she noticed a new voicemail on her phone. The words she heard were enough to make her pull off the road and burst into tears. Her daughter had called to tell her there had been a shooting at Fort Hood, the Army post where her son, Spc. Luke House, Special Troops Battalion, III Corps, is stationed. The message stated her son was safe and unharmed, but that did little to quell House’s upset. Watching the news when she got home only magnified her sadness.

“I was feeling so much gratitude that my son is alive, but at the same time my heart was breaking because so many people were watching the same program and not knowing if their loved one was okay,” House said.

The next morning, House took to her blog to talk about her feelings and to reach out to others dealing with the intense emotions the event had created. However, House felt she needed to do more than type.

“I just thought it was so stupid and so trivial,” she said. “Why write something on a blog when all I can think about is those people that are hurting?

“What a passive thing being sad is, it doesn’t do anyone any good.”

House decided to take action. She took to her blog again, this time with a mission. An avid quilter, House had decided to reach out to collect quilts for the Soldiers wounded in the shooting.

“Quilts for me were the only thing to do,” she said. “In my mind, quilts are love. You wrap them around yourself and you feel warm and comforted.”

House’s efforts took off. She posted the request for donations to her other social networking accounts and others in her quilting community passed the message along. Within three days, House had collected enough quilts for Fort Hood’s wounded and had coordinated with the III Corps chaplain’s office to have them distributed.

The Bits ‘n Pieces quilt group from Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio sent along three quilts as soon as its members heard about the donation drive. As a group, they make quilts to be donated to wounded servicemembers whenever the need arises.

“I think a handmade quilt is like a warm hug and it’s one way I can contribute to support the war effort,” Andrea Blackhurst, a Bits ‘n Pieces member, said. “We’ve been making and donating quilts for wounded Soldiers for about four years.”

House isn’t stopping with just comforting the wounded. She wants to ensure the families of those killed each have a quilt to let them know the community cares. Although she’s been informed the delivery logistics will be difficult because the families are scattered across the country, she’s determined to make sure everyone affected is taken care of.

“We just want them to know the community, the country love them and we are grateful for their sacrifices and their efforts to protect our country,” House said.