{"id":1578,"date":"2012-07-20T21:11:53","date_gmt":"2012-07-21T03:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/?p=1578"},"modified":"2012-07-20T21:26:23","modified_gmt":"2012-07-21T03:26:23","slug":"a-comforting-show-of-appreciation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/?p=1578","title":{"rendered":"A comforting show of appreciation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A comforting show of appreciation<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lezley Zwaal (left), the founder of Quilts of Valour Canada, presents a quilt to Cpl Pres Lavier, a flight engineer with 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron. Photo courtesy Lezley Zwaal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July 20, 2012<\/p>\n

By Capt Rodney Dietzmann<\/div>\n
\n

Serving overseas is something most Canadian Forces members look forward to doing with pride. However, no one hopes to be wounded or sustain injuries. When that happens, it is comforting to know that people care.<\/p>\n

After Corporal Pres Lavier, a flight engineer with Edmonton-based 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, sustained injuries in a CH-147 Chinook helicopter crash while serving in Afghanistan, it was touching to be recognized by a Canadian organization called Quilts of Valour Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cReceiving the quilt was great; it was an honour,\u201d said Cpl Lavier.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuilts of Valour Canada is a way for Canadian quilters to give our armed forces members \u2013 land, sea and air, veterans, reservists and military support people \u2013 a hug from a grateful nation,\u201d explained Lezley Zwaal, founder of Quilts of Valour Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuilt makers from across the country deliver quilts to quilting contacts who have made military contacts with the support units, padres and family resource centres across the country. We do not know who is going to receive the quilts; we leave the presentation (sometimes formal, sometimes not) to those military contacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also get quilts to veterans in the care facilities, and go through various social related groups who are getting Quilts of Valour quilts to homeless veterans,\u201d she added. \u201cAt the moment we are getting connected with groups such as Soldier On.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are finding is that as the quilts are being given, the recipients are aware of others who would benefit from the support felt when a complete stranger had made the effort to create the gift of appreciation for keeping our country free. We hope the quilted hug will help those injured heal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cpl Lavier\u2019s mother is one of the quilters who donates quilts to the program. She nominated her son for a quilt, which Ms Zwaal presented to him in Edmonton in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom was out visiting from Ontario and was a part of the presentation,\u201d said Cpl Lavier.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good feeling that people are thinking about those getting hurt,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Quilts of Valour Canada continues to seek deserving recipients. More information about the organization can be found on their website at www.quiltsofvalour.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A comforting show of appreciation July 20, 2012 By Capt Rodney Dietzmann Serving overseas is something most Canadian Forces members look forward to doing with pride. However, no one hopes to be wounded or sustain injuries. When that happens, it is comforting to know that people care. After Corporal Pres Lavier, a flight engineer with Edmonton-based 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, sustained injuries in a CH-147 Chinook helicopter crash while serving in Afghanistan, it was touching to be recognized by a Canadian organization called Quilts of Valour Canada. \u201cReceiving the quilt…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-408-squadron-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1578"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1587,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578\/revisions\/1587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forfreedom.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}