At Country Meadows Retirement Communities, we don’t have to wait until Veteran’s Day to celebrate the life, legacy and sacrifice of our veteran heroes. In our communities, we have residents and co-workers who represent all branches of the military with their service in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and others who were stationed all over the world.
Jim Ranieri, Country Meadows resident and Cold War veteran, partnered with the national non-profit organization, Quilts of Valor, to publicly thank fellow veterans by organizing a quilt presentation at the York-South campus on Wednesday, Oct. 30.
During the event, eight veterans (sevener residents and one co-worker) were given quilts made by local volunteers of the TLC Stars and Stripes group in Middletown. The quilts are all uniquely designed and made with patriotic fabric to honor the careers of each veteran.
“We are looking to provide comfort to veterans who may not have received much when returning from war,” explained Patricia Carnes, representative from the TLC Stars and Stripes. “The veterans have seen a lot during their wars and many don’t speak about it, but this is a method for us to show respect for what they’ve done, comfort them and create closure to what they experienced during the wars.”
Quilt ceremonies are organized based on nominations from fellow veterans, and the recipient must consent to receiving the quilt. To date, Jim has nominated more than 100 fellow veterans for this special recognition and looks forward to finding more veterans in the Country Meadows and local communities to grant them this token of gratitude.
“Quilts of Valor’s thinking is that ‘Quilts=Healing’,” explained Jim. “It is important to show veterans appreciation while they are still here. This is a great program for ordinary people to recognize heroes.”
One of the heroes who received a quilt was 100-year-old Country Meadows resident and Army veteran Ludwig Feistenhammer. He fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and received three Purple Hearts.
“The veterans really deserve something like this,” said Ludwig. “Today was probably the greatest day of their life from the standpoint of someone giving them something and thanking them. A gift like this only comes once in a lifetime.”
Quilts of Valor Foundation began in 2003 by founder Catherine Roberts when her son was deployed in Iraq. After having a disturbing dream seeing a young man sitting on the side of his bed in the middle of the night, hunched over and distraught. The next scene in her dream showed the man wrapped in a quilt. His whole demeanor changed from one of despair to one of hope and well-being. The quilt had made this dramatic change. Quilts of Valor has distributed more than 397,886 quilts to veterans around the world. To learn more about Quilts of Valor, visit www.qovf.org.