Mt. Pleasant veteran receives Quilt of Valor

By Gretchen Teske, Mt. Pleasant News

When Jacob Veith entered the Mt. Pleasant Pizza Ranch Wednesday, he thought he was just giving a presentation on his time in Afghanistan. Unbeknownst to him, he was receiving a Quilt of Valor.

Jacob?s aunt, Kathryn Veith, organized the day. She and her friend Judy Miller had been secretly working on the quilt for months. They told him it was a Fourth of July quilt and he never thought more of it again. Miller has made a Quilt of Valor in the past and was happy to help again. ?It?s important because you?re doing this for someone who has risked their life for our country,? she said. ?People need to realize that we don?t have the freedoms that we have now just because. Someone risked their life for that freedom.?

Kathryn Veith echoed her sentiments and was glad she was the one to be able to make it for Jacob. She struggled to keep back tears as she thought about what it meant for her to be the one to make and present him with his quilt. ?I think it?s a way of showing appreciation for any veteran,? she said. ?I don?t think he was expecting it so I wanted to make something for him, something special, something that he would enjoy in the moment.?

According to the Quilts of Valor website, the foundation was started by Catherine Roberts of Delaware in 2003. Roberts? son was deployed in Iraq when she had a dream that he was struggling emotionally. Next in the dream, he grabbed a quilt and put it around himself and it comforted him immediately. She decided the message of her dream was that quilts can bring healing. The first quilt was awarded in November of 2003 and the organization grew from there. In 2005 they were recognized as a national nonprofit and crated a volunteer board of directors to oversee operations. According to their August newsletter, the 200,000 quilt will be awarded this fall.

A list of requirements are on the website for the quilt itself. It must be a patriotic theme, but does not have to be red, white and blue. The recipient may choose the color scheme. It must be large enough to cover an average-sized adult, have the words, ?Quilt of Valor? on it, include space for the name of the recipient and the names of the quilt makers.

?It was kind of surprising,? he said of seeing his friends and family in the room. ?I didn?t know anything about all of this until just now.? Veith served in Afghanistan from January 2010 until January 2011. Overall, he spent three-and-a-half years in the Army. Until the ceremony, he had never heard of the Quilts of Valor Foundation but was very touched to be included. ?It?s really cool, a lot of time and effort went into that,? he said. ?The fact that everyone showed up makes me feel pretty good.?