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Diplomacy Quilts for Afghanistan Children
Project
As you may have heard, a large contingent of National Guard from
Northern Illinois are reporting for duty in Afghanistan the end
of this month. The Northwest Herald has been carrying a blog by
one of the Medics – a Huntley Policeman, Brett Kinney – entitled
Afghanistan Unfiltered, and it has drawn more community
attention. One of the missions of this unit is humanitarian;
they will be helping to build schools and roads.
My Story . . .
Our daughter is an Air Force officer and was deployed to
Afghanistan in August. The Army is short of officers and she is
filling an Army position, stationed in Kabul. She suggested that
I read Three Cups of Tea to learn more about the Afghanistan
culture. As I was reading I was consumed by the extreme poverty
and illiteracy.
Because we own a quilt shop, I asked her if we could get donated
quilts to the children. She said, “Mom if you get them there, we
will get them out. In fact, the soldiers that would take them
out would be the ones from Northern Illinois National Guard
unit.”
Liss Kundich’s Story . . .
In the meantime, on a separate train track – Brett Kinney has
been communicating with Liss Kundich, one of our area quilters
who is active in many quilting groups. Brett suggested the same
thing to Liss as he thought too that taking quilts to the
children would be a great diplomacy gesture with the villages.
Peace – one warm child at a time.
Liss’ husband is retired Navy and they both continue to strongly
support the troops. Liss is rallying her own troops now, the
many quilters she has been involved with over the years.
Michelle Lee’s Story . . .
Michelle Lee’s son Eric was in Iraq four years ago and he’s
Brett’s police partner in Huntley. As a mother she wanted to do
something positive while Eric was in Iraq. This resulted in
sending a truck load of donated books to the troops. Many of the
books are still being read by soldiers stationed there.
Michelle has volunteered to help with logistics and publicity.
She personally knows Brett and her son has other friends who are
being deployed with this unit.
And so starts the project we call – Diplomacy Quilts for
Afghanistan Children.
Northern Illinois quilters are joining together to aid the
troops as they go into the Afghanistan Villages. Moms, Grand
moms, Quilters, can all do something positive in a political
environment that is screaming for that.
Your Story . . .
Consider making and donating a quilt that will be treasured by
the family receiving it, the soldier giving it and the child
warmed by it. Please see the guidelines before you start your
project.
How we can help . . .
Quilt in Joy is open to groups of up to 8 quilters coming in to
use the class room while they work on the project. For many
years quilters have sewn together and we continue that
tradition. Our class room in “in the round”. Call the shop for
time availability 847-669-0759.
The shop also serves as a drop off spot, either mailing
donations ($4.00 per quilt), quilts, and/or quilt tops. There
are many sales fabrics that would work well in these quilts and
we are working with our batting supplier to have a special stock
of lower cost batting. Quilters bringing in a quilt receive a
15% discount on regular fabric that day, 10% on sale fabric. Our
way of saying THANK YOU, it means so much.
Looking for an easy pattern? The Algonquin Quilters Guild has
contributed just that, a Children’s Quilt that can be completed
in less than 8 hours, start to finish. Find the pattern on
www.quiltinjoy.com. A special thank you goes to Sue Volkmann who
wrote down the directions and sewed the sample. She has special
ties as both the wife and the mother of military men.
Have questions call Liss at 515-3004 or Quilt in Joy at
847-669-1722.
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