Quilting students from Southwestern Community College recently participated in the Quilts of Valor project, a non-profit organization with the goal of making quilts that would both heal and comfort returning service men and women touched by war.

Quilters from around the nation send their handmade “pride” to a central location, where it is pieced together with the squares of other donors to create a beautiful patriotic lap quilt. Once the quilt is completed, it is awarded at one of many different levels:  some go to military hospitals where chaplains award them to service members; there may be presentations of quilts to entire service units returning from combat deployments; they may be awarded at VA hospitals or presented individually.