Veterans Day and Winner Announced for SewCalGal's Fall ME Blog Hop

Honoring ALL Veterans Today

My Father, Harry L. Howlett, Army,  Military Police Served in Paris, France

I had not been born when my Father was in the military.

My Brother, Matthew L. Howlett, Army, Airborne

I'll never forget when my Brother served.  Our family rescheduled Christmas and my wedding so he could attend.  He was stationed in Colorado and had been discharged from the Army and returned home to attend college.  It was mid-semester and he was called back to service and scheduled to deploy to Desert Storm.  My entire life during that time was centered around listening to the radio for any updates and my Mother was beside herself, I'm certain all mothers are during war times.  The week he was scheduled to deploy the war ended, GRACE had set him free (in my thoughts). 

This past Thursday at my son's elementary school there was a breakfast held to honor Veterans and an assembly that followed. 

My eyes were opened in a new way that day.  Why had I not participated prior to this time?  I have no excuse except to say our family thought you had to be able to bring a Veteran to that breakfast to participate.  This year, I never asked if that was true, we just participated and I'm so glad we did. 

There came an e-mail asking for parents to make breakfast casseroles and bring them to the school by 7:45am.  I thought of my Father and Brother and wanted my boys to know that their Grandfather and Uncle have served in the Military and we need to honor their service.  I was up at 6:00am in my wheelchair making two casseroles.  Getting up at 6:00am is "military" enough for me....then having to navigate my kitchen in a wheelchair, well that was my own personal boot camp horror.  Needless to say, we made it on time and the Veterans Breakfast was a memorable event.

The Veterans Honor Ceremony was very moving.  The Fourth Grade class sang and there were several Fifth Grade children that were selected to read their essays.  Each Veteran was asked to stand and share their name, branch of the Military they had served in and the person who had invited them.  I had goosebumps throughout the entire breakfast and the Honor Ceremony.  Then, a woman with three or four children in tow stood up and announced that her husband had served and he was killed, my eyes filled with tears and they began streaming down my face.  What a brave woman, I thought.  To be able to stand in front of her children and share their families sacrifice for the well being and freedom of the rest of us.  After the ceremony I approached her and thanked her for coming and sharing her experience with us.  We exchanged phone numbers and as soon as this ankle permits, I will be offering my support in any way I can to help this widow raise her children.  Can you even begin to imagine?  I hope everyone finds a way to offer support to Veterans today and everyday.


There are a number of ways we can help Veterans.  I will mention a few here and you can feel free to post the programs you know about in the comments on this post. 

 

Island Batik has a program, "Quilted In Honor," and they are raising funds to support "Operation Homefront."  There are many partners and sponsors that are supporting Island Batik in their efforts to raise money for Operation Homefront.  

I Have A Notion®  has partnered with Island Batik to help raise money to support the program to provide much needed assistance to those individuals and families who have served in the Military.  Aurifil Thread is also one of the partners in the project and all of you know how I feel about Aurifil Thread right?

When you purchase Aurifil Quilted In Honor 40wt and 50 wt Mako Cotton Thread Sets from IHAN®  90% ( $54.00) of the profit made from purchasing this Aurifil Thread Collection from will be donated to Operation Homefront.  You might be wondering why not 100% ($60.00).  That is because IHAN® has to pay fees to receive your payments.  If you pay by cash or check, 100% of the profit will be donated.   

Quilts of Valor is the other organization that I'm familiar with that provides quilts to Veterans.  Their mission is: "To cover all combat service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor."  I know my local guild, Black Swamp Quilt Guild, makes and delivers quilts for Quilts of Valor.  If you would like to get involved  you can click on the words "Quilts of Valor" and that will take you to their website. 
  
I have to say that if it were not for SewCalGal doing a fundraiser for Operation Homefront last December I would not have known about this organization.  It was my guild that informed me about Quilts of Valor.  That is why I continue to share with others because how else will the word get around? 

Announcing the Fall Machine Embroidery Blog Hop Winner

Lucky Number 24

Congratulations Sew Quilt Embroider you have won your choice of designs from Embroider Shoppe. Please e-mail me with the design of your choice as well as the format your embroidery machine uses.

Big Thank You's go out to Karin for helping with my post, SewCalGal for hosting and arranging the Fall Theme Machine Embroidery Blog Hop and of course all of you wonderful bloggers who hopped by and left comments. 

With Gratitude,

Kelly