A group of local quilters were thrilled when Quilts of Valour Canada (QOVC) founder Lezley Zwaal visited 100 Mile House recently.
The Edmonton resident was a special guest at a potluck dinner hosted by local QOVC quilter Nancy Meville, and attended by another dozen or so members in the Horse Lake Quilters guild.
The QOVC now distributes quilts primarily to veterans, but when it was formed, it distributed them only to injured soldiers, like its counterpart society did in the United States.
Zwaal said the growing numbers of veterans, many with war injuries – whether physical or mental health issues – led the QOVC to branch out to include vets as quilt recipients.
“There is no formal nomination, it is an e-mail that says, ‘Hey, my dad is a veteran’ [and so on].”
The latest recipient of a Quilt of Valour (QFV) in Edmonton, James Guignion, was found at the last Alberta election polls, Zwaal added.
“The daughter and mom came in and the dad is a 93-year-old [who] is so proud to be a veteran and still able to vote. He fought for his vote, right?”
Zwaal said she got the idea for the Canadian society, which she formally founded in 2009, after she visited three seriously injured soldiers in an army hospital in 2006 (which required a padre’s help to get her through its high-security doors), and presented them with quilts she had made herself.
The experience affected her profoundly, particularly in seeing how young many of them were, she noted.
It also gave her a new appreciation for what it means to soldiers to be recognized and given a gift without strings attached, when they are more used to giving of themselves than they are to receiving anything.
“They don’t even know what to say … or why someone they don’t know from a hole in the wall would bother giving them a quilt. And that happens over and over, to this day; it is ‘why am I getting this quilt’?, or ‘how much do I have to pay for this’?
“And when it comes to [these] veterans, no one has ever said ‘thank you’ from a civilian perspective. They talk about the ‘grip and grin’ where it is: ‘so you’re retired; congratulations’, and a lot of them have said that this means so much more.”
Zwaal explained she presented a few more quilts to injured soldiers in Edmonton in 2009, after contacting Catherine Roberts, founder of the Quilts of Valour Foundation in the U.S., who hooked her up with a local contact.
However, when she attempted to distribute more across Canada, Zwaal experienced difficulties in getting the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to accept donations for hospitalized soldiers, she noted.
Zwaal said she then brought her story to the Edmonton Journal and Global News, and the media attention was quickly followed by a call from the Department of Defence seeking some basic clarifications.
Shortly afterward, she was contacted by Mary Ewing – now director of the QOVC – asking how she could help.
Others jumped on board to get the society going, particularly in British Columbia and Ontario, and to date, QFV has now distributed 6,000 quilts to CAF members and veterans across the country, with a goal to double that number by 2018.
Today, Zwaal said she often returns home to find quilts piled up at her door, and collects many others from Edmonton and around the country.
Meville noted the local guild makes many quilts that they donate directly to veterans in the South Cariboo, but any QOVC quilts from here or across Canada all feature personalized labels.
Most communities distribute quilts to their local vets first, so QOVC co-ordinates the supply of labels, and tracks the numbers given out and the overall success of the program.
After corresponding and swapping quilts for the veterans with her for many years, these quilters were overjoyed to meet in person for the first time, along with local member Marilynne Brager.
The three greeted each other warmly, exchanged hugs, and then trooped off to join the rest of their guild of compassionate quilters for dinner.
