The Very Best Kind of Thank You!

In 2005 when I began this journey of sharing quilts with our 'unseen heroes,' of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina I didn't reach out to get a pat on the back or a thank you and yet, I received a few thanks that warmed my heart.

One was of a momma and her baby girl with their quilts. I had made 2 different quilt patterns but used the same fabrics since mom and baby were separated while mom lived aboard a FEMA ship so she could work and baby lived in Texas with grandma.

Then, the second one came of an amazing lady named Gloria who had lost everything while she remained at work helping others and I mean literally, her house moved away from where it was sitting.

Gloria's picture showed her in bed with the quilt I had made her and it just warmed my heart.

Here were two people in the most devastating of times and they took time out of their chaotic and turned upside down lives to say, 'thank you, you made a difference.'

Sometimes I get a note saying thank you right away, sometimes I get a thank you in the mail months and even a year or more later and when you lose everything you ever owned in the blink of an eye, it is shocking to me I receive anything at all.

So when I received a letter in the mail yesterday, I cried and I smiled and I felt my heart just filled with warmth as this is the very first time I have ever received a letter from an obviously very young child whose dad is a policeman.

The letter thanked me for the quilt, told me it is being used everyday and that their father is a policeman. I wrote them back letting them know how special that letter is to me and telling them when the time comes that I get my studio built, this letter will hold a special place framed and on the wall.

I always say that we don't expect payment from those that receive our quilts, but I would say this child repaid the kindness in a way that will forever touch my soul and simply put once again...

These children, families and individuals are the reason why I do what I do and why at times I beg for you to help with quilts, with funding, fabric, thread, etc..

Hopefully this coming spring/summer I can meet these two little ones face to face and give them a huge hug!