March 28, 2024

Area women honor veterans with Quilts of Valor

Honoring those who have served the country is often done through ceremonies and with medals of recognition. More than 15 women in Monroe and the greater Jasper County area have come together in a new, comforting way to show veterans how much their service means to the people they were fighting for.

Quilts of Valor started in Winterest and has become a nationwide organization creating quilts for veterans in the United States. Earlier this year, a Jasper County chapter was started after AdaBeth Hume of Monroe felt called to give back to the area veterans.

“I have never been a quilter,” Hume said. “I have made blankets for my great-grandchildren and I have 23 of them, but it is something that I had so many members in my family in the military and when I heard about the Quilts of Valor I thought, this is something that I want to do. Finally, my daughter said to me, ‘Mom, I will join you if you can find other women, I don’t know why we can’t do this.’”

After putting the word out, about 15 women came together in January to start a Quilts of Valor Jasper County chapter. The group planned to meet twice a month but due to COVID, gatherings were halted until there was more favorable weather.

“The weather got nice enough that we started meeting in the park. We can’t do sewing out there but we could show what we were working on,” Hume said. “We just all work together and encourage one another. If someone is having trouble with a quilt we try to help them out but I say if you can sew a straight line for five inches, you can make a quilt. I never though at my age that I would find something new that I like to do but I really enjoy doing it and we, like a say, we pay for all of our material that we buy. It is gift from us to the veteran.”

The group had a soup supper fundraiser at the Monroe United Methodist Church that brought in about $700 for supplies. They were also given gift cards from the Legion Auxiliary and Jasper County Vietnam Veterans to use toward the project.

“You need a backing on a quilt and it helps pay for the batting that goes in between it,” Hume said.

There are very few regulations for the quilts that are created. Hume said typically they have a patriotic theme but the quilter is free to create whatever she would like. Currently, Hume said she is working on a green and brown quilt similar to camouflage.

“They are pieced, sewn together by the women in the group, then they are sent to a long armer and they have to be machine quilted. Then, they come and we bind them and then they are presented,” Hume said. “It’s just a volunteer thing. We do strive to make them as nice as we can. We can put some colors in there if we know a quilt is going to a female veterans.”

The group has identified 99 veterans in the county. The first five quilts were handed out at a July ceremony with 10 more going to the remaining WWII and Korean War veterans at a ceremony at 1 p.m.  Sunday in Monroe’s downtown square. The women will then move on to the county’s Vietnam War veterans for their next round.

“We’re not sure that we have them all, we need people to tell us if they know of a veteran so we can add them to our list. It is something that will probably take us quite a few years to get to,” Hume said. “I just really, I know the veterans appreciate it and it is something we felt we needed to do in Jasper County.”

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com

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