Midlanders' quilts bring comfort to servicemen

Sara Kenny knows about the sacrifices America's servicemen and women make.

Kenny's daughter and son-in-law in are captains in the Army; her older son is a lieutenant in the Air Force, and her younger son just finished his second year at West Point.

When her children were deployed, Kenny would make quilts for them. (Her daughter's quilt has been all over the world, including a deployment to Iraq.)

"I just thought this was a little something I could do," Kenny said. "While my daughter was deployed, while my son was deployed, making quilts was kind of a way to think about them and pray for them, and do something tangible."

So it wasn't a stretch for the Eagle, Neb., mother to expand her quilting operation to include other soldiers.

Tonight, one of Kenny's quilts will be among a shipment picked up in Lincoln by the Quilts of Valor Foundation, a national group that sends quilts out to wounded or injured American servicemen. A reception will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, which collected about 85 quilts from Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota and Kansas for the project.

"When a service member is far away, I think a quilt is a good way to express something in a tangible way that people would like to be able to give them in person," said Maureen Ose, spokeswoman for the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln.

This shipment of quilts is slated for members of the 3/8 Marine Battalion, who have been deployed in Afghanistan since October 2008.

"Quilts are kind of a comfort thing," Kenny said. "You're a soldier, you've got something that you can hang onto all the time, they're warm; somebody who you didn't know made it for you, and sent with the quilt their well-wishes and their thanks for your service. And I think that's a big deal for soldiers."

As for Kenny's family, everybody is on U.S. soil for the first time in about three years.

"And we are very grateful," she said.

Contact the writer:

444-1074, john.keenean@owh.com