Comfort! Create! Unite!

These three words have been the standard Operation Kid Comfort lives by for more than five years now. Our quilts are created to provide comfort, while OpKid workshops provide communities across America an opportunity to unite in support of our service men and women serving overseas. Here's a tale of how one community came to support their own through Operation Kid Comfort.

When my husband, Steve, and I decided to spend six weeks in South Texas this winter, I had no thoughts of making Operation Kid Comfort quilts. That is until Steve told a golf buddy about the program.

A few days later, I met Robert Britton at a community gathering. Showing me a photo of his four granddaughters, he said, “Aren't the beautiful!” He quickly followed the question up with “...and they all need quilts! Their Mom and Dad are both heading out on deployments!”

Well, as I said, the last thing I wanted to do on vacation was make quilts! And then I thought about the Britton kids, spending vacations for the coming year without Mom and Dad nearby. They had some tough times coming, being separated from both parents for so long. How could I refuse? Their Mom and Dad were not refusing to help me and mine.

The next day, I met with a Janet Magee, the sales director of the South Padre Island Resort. I asked if there were any quilters in the area and if I could use their club house for an afternoon.

“Absolutely!”

Together, we set to getting the word out. In response to a post in the community email updates and a notice on the bulletin board, seven volunteers signed on to help make the Britton girls Operation Kid Comfort quilts.

An interesting group of volunteers, one quilter, a few of sewers, a retired army wife (who is well acquainted with Fort Bragg), and others who weren't sure how to help but came to lend a hand in any way possible, we set to work.

I had the photos pre-printed on fabric, and thanks to Janet R., who cut the fabric into strips before the workshop, we were able to put together four quilts in one afternoon.

It didn't take long to fit into an 'assembly line'. Some were pinning, some were pressing, and some were sewing.

And didn't these quilts turn out gorgeous!

Your community can do this too. Operation Kid Comfort is in need of long distance quilters to make quilts for our OpKids. We will send you kits with photos printed on fabric ready to be put together. Please contact operationkidcomfort@gmail.com to learn more about how you can make a difference in the lives of the children of our deployed service members.

Please consider serving those who serve America, by supporting Operation Kid Comfort, or any of the ASYMCA programs. Questions and contributions may be directed to:

Armed Services YMCA of Fort Bragg

208 Thorncliff Drive, Fayetteville, NC 28303.

910-436-0500

Thank you so much to the OpKid volunteers, Alice G., Jeanie M., Patti K., Nancy F., Karen K., Donna S., and Janet R. for your talents and time, the entire community of South Padre Island Resort for your concern for America's Littlest Heroes. And THANK YOU to the Britton family. Your sacrifice and bravery is not forgotten. We are honored to include your children in the OpKid family.

Comfort!

Create!

Unite!

Thank YOU

There is no way to imagine Operation Kid Comfort without the help of its contributors and volunteers. They are the oil that has kept this engine going for almost five years. Can you believe it --- FIVE YEARS! If only there was a way we could report on them all, but the time it takes away from our OpKids and their quilts would offset the kindness they've bestowed. Today, we will highlight two contributors that represent what the OpKid family is all about. Please know that these kind souls represent the MANY who have made Operation Kid Comfort the award-winning and successful program that it is today.

Mark Hordyszynski, an award-winning fabric designer whose work can be seen throughout the world of fiber has donated more than 50 yards of fabric. Included in the donations several yards of 'solid' colors that will coordinate nicely with much of what we have on hand, and some adorable juvenile prints and dots that we know our OpKids love! Thank you Mark for you generosity. To learn more about Mark and his talents, please visit his website: www.markhordyszynski.com/

Also recognized here is the MOMS Club chapter of Easton Area, Easton, PA. Under the direction of Heather Fredericks, these ladies formed teams with each team making one quilt. Using images already printed on fabric and provided by the ASYMCA workshop on Fort Bragg, along with a generous dose of love and appreciation for our military families, these MOMS constructed four beautiful quilts for our OpKids. I'm sure you join us as we send a great big THANK YOU to the MOMS. To learn more about MOMS, please visit their website: http://www.geocities.com/momsclubofeaston/index.html

We have so many wonderful people in the OpKid family, all who offer their love and prayers to our military and join us in our mission to serve the children of those who serve America. If you would like to be part of this phenomenal team, please contact: mburtonasymca@earthlink.net.

Donations and contributions can be mailed directly to:

Operation Kid Comfort
ASYMCA of Fort Bragg and Pope AFB
208 Thorncliff Drive
Fayetteville, NC 28303

To receive a quilt for a child you know, please contact: operationkidcomfort@gmail.com.

Thank you to all our contributors and volunteers. Without YOU OpKid would not be possible!

Support OpKids With Fabled Fibers

Operation Kid Comfort is so grateful to have the support of many within the quilting community, including the amazing talents of some special members of Quiltart.com who created the 51 quilts of Fabled Fibers: Art Quilt Enchantments. The collection spans Aladdin to Treasure Island, and includes fairy tales, folk stories, fables, the classics and original stories written by the artists themselves, with many of the works being included in the 2008 Fabled Fibers calendar and greeting cards.

Fabled Fibers: Art Quilt Enchantments is honored to hold it's live premiere at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, November 1-4, 2007. And, check the Fabled Fibers event schedule regularly for new venues being added from throughout the country.

Twelve images of the quilts are included in our 2008 Fabled Fibers wall calendar and eight more on the Fabled Fibers greeting cards, with more to be added in the future. Each sale directly supports Operation Kid Comfort and other children's programs of the Armed Services YMCA. And ALL sales include shipping, handling, and sales tax within the continental U.S.

So many of you have been asking what you can do to help Operation Kid Comfort as we continue our support of America's littles heroes, the children of our deployed service men and women. Visit Fabled Fibers: Art Quilt Enchantments, spend some time viewing the quilts and reading the stories, and then, visit our shop to purchase the 2008 Fabled Fibers wall calendar and greeting cards.

There is no better way to support our troops than to care for their families while they are away.

Military Brats Offer Support to OpKids

Who knows better what the children of today's military are going through better than former military brats? The adults who spent their childhood in military communities and missing a parent far away.

Operation Kid Comfort is proud to welcome Military Brats Registry, with a membership of 78,539 adults who are reconnecting with childhood friends made in military communities throughout the world, to the OpKid family. Founder, Marc Curtis, has asked each of his many registry members to draw on their own experience to support Operation Kid Comfort by sending in a $25 donation to Operation Kid Comfort of the ASYMCA of Fort Bragg/Pope AFB. Each $25 donation will cover the cost of one quilt and help with the childcare that allows many of our military spouse volunteers to attend our weekly OpKid workshops.

Please join me in thanking Marc and the many Military Brats who remember our military and our military, and their support. To learn more about Military Brats Registry, please visit www.militarybrats.com. To read the OpKid entry to the Military Brats Blog, please visit www.militarybrat.com/bratblog.cfm.

You can join Military Brats Registry in their support by sending your tax deductible donation to:
Operation Kid Comfort
ASYMCA of Fort Bragg/Pope AFB
208 Thorncliff Drive
Fayetteville, NC 28303

Comfort! Create! Unite!

'OpKid" Storytelling

Operation Kid Comfort has so many stories to tell: stories of our military families who bravely endure the long separations now demanded of them, stories of our phenomenal volunteers who endlessly work to make the lives of military families easier to endure, and stories of this amazing journey of Operation Kid Comfort and how it grew from the dream of just a few into a reality that serves families through military installations across the U.S. and overseas. Read on for a couple of new stories we have to offer you, and be sure to be a part of our stories by posting your comments, as well.

The Operation Kid Comfort segment of The Story with Dick Gordon, which aired through WUNC public radio on April 27, 2007, speaks to the Operation Kid Comfort beginnings and gets to the heart of why we do this: to make the lives of our deployed service men and women, and their families a little bit easier. You can listen to the interview and read about our story of Operation Kid Comfort at the program’s website: the story Take a few moments to check it out and leave a comment about what ‘OpKid’ means to you, your family and your military community.

Our thanks go to Dick Gordon and The Story’s producer, Denise Schneider, for the opportunity to speak about Operation Kid Comfort. Mr. Gordon and I spoke of the almost 5,000 children that have received Operation Kid Comfort quilts and pillows, more than 2,000 through the Armed Services of Fort Bragg/Pope AFB. The items are FREE of charge, and our way of saying THANK YOU to America’s bravest and their little heroes: the children waiting at home for Mommy or Daddy to return.

We welcome your support. For information on how you can become an official sponsor of Operation Kid Comfort please contact operationkidcomfort@gmail.com or call 910/436-0500. Contributions can be mailed to:

Operation Kid Comfort

Armed Services YMCA of Fort Bragg/Pope AFB

208 Thorncliff Drive

Fayetteville, NC 28303

And we have another story for you … or should I say FIFTY stories! Operation Kid Comfort is so pleased to welcome the artists of Fabled Fibers: Art Quilt Enchantments into our family. As members of Quiltart.com, these artists have offered their talents by illustrating their favorite children’s stories in quilt art form. At www.fabledfibers.com/ you can wander through our online galleries to see the amazing story quilts they have created, and read the accompanying tales. From Aladdin to Treasure Island, Fabled Fibers includes fairy tales, folk stories and fables, as well as some lovely original stories by the artists themselves.

Very soon, we will be offering Fabled Fibers products to raise funds for Operation Kid Comfort. From day one, I have searched for a vehicle of ongoing income for the program, and with the help of our Fabled Fibers artists, we have found just that. Check back to see our note cards, calendars and bookmarks that will be available for sale at www.fabledfibers.com.

And speaking of venues…Operation Kid Comfort is so very pleased and honored to announce that, with the sponsorship of Hewlett-Packard, Fabled Fibers: Art Quilt Enchantments will open at the Fall 2007 International Quilt Market and Festival. HP, Quilts, Inc. and The International Quilt Market have been supporters of Operation Kid Comfort since the program’s inception. Fabled Fibers and Operation Kid Comfort are the result of community efforts that include corporate support, individual contributions and the talents of hundreds of volunteers. Please consider being part of this wonderful community. To learn more please email: operationkidcomfort@gmail.com.

OpKid Moments from Around the World

What a delight it is to see Operation Kid Comfort growing from the community of Fort Bragg across America. It is a success for all of us, the many volunteers and ASYMCA staff who knew that Operation Kid Comfort would create comfort for so many children of deployed service men and women, when we say: Operation Kid Comfort is serving military families from Fort Drum to San Diego Naval Base, and now on to US Military families in Germany. The pictures and information below are shining examples of how caring people can create comfort for children in their communities.

Carmen of the Fort Drum U.S. Army Base, New York ASYMCA writes:
In December at the Fort Drum annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony we presented our first twelve quilts to seven families. Each family was very pleased with their quilts and we received ten more request that night. To date we are serving 34 families and by the end of next week thirty-two quilts will have been received.

Operation Kid Comfort is already making a difference in our Fort Drum community. I spoke with one of the mothers yesterday and she told me that her daughter has kept the quilt close ever since she first received it, and that it was a task to convince her to leave it home from school.

The quilt shop Material Rewards Dansville, NY has been one of the driving forces to make our program possible by completing seventeen quilts in a little more that a week and a half and donating all of the supplies. I am now working with a Quilt guild in Auburn, NY that want to make another 60 quilts.

The greatest reward of all has been the smile on the faces of the families that received the quilts.


When Shannon Friend-Begin of the U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern’s Kleber Library saw an article about Operation Kid Comfort in the Norwich University Alumnae publication The Norwich Record, she made it her mission to further serve the children of military families, and found the resources to establish Operation Kid Comfort for her community. Below are images taken by Christine June, USAGK Reporter, to report this milestone in OpKid history.

Lynn Pride, U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern's Kleber Library manager, proves that any space can be used to create an Operation Kid Comfort quilt as she finishes up the last touches on an Operation Kid Comfort quilt Jan. 5 for a deployed Soldier’s daughter at the garrison’s library on Kleber Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Regina Tiedemann, U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern Child and Youth Services Health specialist, congratulates her daughter, Shannon, for being the first child in Europe to receive an Operation Kid Comfort quilt Jan. 8 at the garrison’s library on Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

Shannon Tiedemann, explains to Lynn Pride, the nine photos on the Operation Kid Comfort quilt Jan. 8 at the garrison’s library on Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Pride worked on the quilt for more than 12 hours, and Shannon is the first child in Europe to receive an Operation Kid Comfort quilt.

A Typical OpKid Reaction

We talk a lot about the positive effects Operation Kid Comfort quilts and pillows have on children of America's deployed service men and women. And, we receive many notes from grateful parents that we share with our volunteers and contributors. Below is a typical response to OpKid quilts. It always amazes us...every child has a similar reaction. As you read Erin's words, look at the joy in her daughter Emma's face, as she holds her Daddy close in an Operation Kid Comfort quilt.

"I just wanted to thank you for the quilt you made for my two-year-old daughter, Emma. She absolutely loves it. She calls it her "daddy blanket" and brings it everywhere. Sometimes, I'll hear her talking to it, telling her Daddy things about her day. We are on the very near end of a long deployment (he's only been gone for a month and will do a year tour) and I know this will be a wonderful way for her to feel comforted and connected to her Daddy. I have attached a picture of her and her daddy quilt. Thank you again for this amazing service that you provide for the families left behind."

Erin


Because Operation Kid Comfort is a free program, we rely heavily on our contributors and volunteers who understand there is no better way to support our troops than to care for their families while they are away. To join the efforts of Operation Kid Comfort please email: operationkidcomfort@gmail.com or call: 910-436-0500.