ROBERTSDALE — Every year for the last several years, the Stitch-N-Friends group in Robertsdale has presented quilts to veterans as part of the nationwide Quilts of Valor program.

Each year the club presents about 25 quilts a year to veterans, about a dozen or so on Memorial Day in May and another dozen or so on Veterans Day in November. This year they decided to go a step further.

According to club President Tina Morgan, last December club member and former president Barbara Landers called the William F. Green Veterans Home in Bay Minette to ask how many veterans were at the home. They responded that the home generally has about 150 residents.

“In January, we gave our members a challenge,” Morgan said. “At the time we had about 30 members (that number has since grown to over 50) and if each member could make four or five quilts, by the Fourth of July, we would have enough quilts to give one to every veteran at the home.”

Morgan and member Pat Hallberg gathered patterns and the club bought red, white and blue fabric that could be used for the quilts.

“We also have a member that can take quilting patterns made for larger quilts and adapt them to make different sized quilts,” Morgan said.

Most of the quilts are lap quilts, Morgan said, which are 30 by 40 inches, able to fit comfortably between the wheels of a wheelchair and cover the veterans from their lap to their feet. Some are larger, up to a full-sized blanket quilt.

The group meets the second Tuesday of every month at the PZK Civic Center in Robertsdale and every month, Morgan said, they would hand out patterns and work on quilts. In May they gathered for a sew day to complete several unfinished quilts, sewed labels to indicate that the quilts were donated in appreciate to the veterans from the Stitch-N-Friends group and hand-stitched messages of thanks into the quilts themselves. Each label has a place for the veteran’s name so they won’t get lost if laundered.

“In all about 20 of our members worked about 25 hours each on the quilts,” Morgan said, and by the end of June, they had surpassed their goal, presenting 156 quilts to the veterans’ home.

The extra six quilts, Morgan said, were donated to a family that recently adopted six foster children.

The donation brings the number of quilts donated by the club since 2004 to nearly 700, Morgan said, presenting quilts to both veterans and active service men and women.

Quilts are presented for three reasons, to honor those who serve, to recognize their sacrifices and to comfort them, letting them know that thoughts and prayers are always in the hearts of those who made and donated the quilts.

According to its website qovf.com, the Quilts of Valor Foundation is a national organization, started by Catherine Roberts from her sewing room in Seaford, Deleware. Her son Nathanael’s year-long deployment to Iraq provided the initial inspiration, and her desire to see that returning warriors were welcomed home with the love and gratitude they deserved provided the rest.

Since 2003, the Quilts of Valor Foundation has become a national grassroots community service effort, connecting the home-front with warriors and veterans. To date more than 160,000 quilts have been awarded to service members and veterans across the country.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

If you would like to learn more about the Quilts of Valor Foundation and how you can have a quilt made for a service member, contact Stitch-N-Friends President Tina Morgan at 251-654-2286.