Donating or Presenting? — How does Quilts of Valour work?

What about Receipts?
As our society matures, there is clarification needed regarding donations and qualifying for a charitable receipt. As a quilt maker, you are making a quilt of valour for a soldier, not donating a quilt to Quilts of Valour. If you were to donate a quilt to Quilts of Valour - Canada Society, we could issue a receipt, but would have it appraised as a general formula would be difficult given the diverse selection of quilts we have seen. We are able to get a few quilts appraised at no charge, but if we were to appraise the 1600 quilts we have given out to date, somewhere we would have had to find over $50,000! We have been given a quilt to use for our own society's fund raiser and it needed to be appraised in order to get the raffle license. The quilt was donated freely, a charitable receipt graciously declined!

Presentations and Costs
The quilts you make for our soldiers will be presented to a soldier through a military contact at a base, or to a contact person at a veteran care home or recovery centre. That contact is responsible for the quilt delivery to injured soldiers in their facility. Our quilting reps across the country have made those contacts, and try to keep track of changes. The one QoV rep is our best quilting contact so that the bases and care facilities don't have potentially hundreds of quilters taking quilts to many different people, most of whom are not aware of QoV. Not everyone at a facility or on base will know who may have already received a quilt, or who needs a quilt. Our designated military contact gathers the quilts our representatives bring and have a process in place for awarding the quilts.

We Deliver
Quilts of Valour has been incorporated with the mandate - to deliver quilts. We don't make them. You, our quilters across the country make quilts of valour. The society grew out of the circumstances when I found out how difficult it was to get the quilts to the soldiers. Without a military background, I was not aware of Military Resource Centers. Without the injury support units set up in 2006 like we have now, it was difficult to find the person (in a city where the quilts can be given to someone) who will give the quilt to an injured soldier. As civilians, we are not told who the injured are. Hospitals will not even tell you if a soldier is being treated there.

As I spoke to people about my initial difficult experience trying to give quilts to three injured soldiers in 2006, quilters then asked if I could get their quilt to a soldier. Since I had connections made, I could do so. The concept grew. Calls and emails came to me from people across the county who had connections with the military and offered to be contact people between the quilter and the military in their community. Then we realized it is personally costing us. For instance, gas to deliver, mail or ship, or printing labels if a quilt came without one, or buying paper and ink to print an info page for people interested in the idea of getting quilts to injured soldiers.

Incorporation
It was a long and tough decision to incorporate the society, but I felt it was necessary if I wanted to ask for financial help with the costs that we were incurring in helping others get the quilts delivered. We received our charitable status shortly after becoming a society, and now are able to give out receipts for financial donations given to help us with those costs.

Bee Presentations
Our local QoV representatives may hold quilting bees to encourage and assist the making of quilts and organize booths at shows to get the word out about QoV. If they receive fabric/thread donations, they can direct them to the quilters in their area who could use the support. They find destinations for the quilts, and deliver the quilts to those places for you.

They can also find a contact from a base who would be willing to come to a group's quilting bee if the bee wishes to make a presentation to the armed forces. A bee may wish to make a quilt of valour for one of their own injured enlisted family members. I just ask they let me know so we can include the quilts in the overall count of quilts awarded. When a bee or quilting group wishes to make a presentation to someone from a military base, our representatives can make the contact with the base. The representative may not be involved in the presentation since it is the bee's presentation!

Results
Our soldiers are recognizing the Quilts of Valour logo, and are humbled to receive your quilted hugs. They are proud to have served our country and truly appreciate being awarded a quilt from someone who would like to thank them for what they have been doing for our country. Our injured soldiers have been so forgotten, and although times are changing, and resources for recovery are getting better, your quilts are going a long way to their comfort and recovery. Our veterans who are receiving the quilts are overwhelmed by your generosity. As they age and their minds take them back to the era of the 1940's, they are remembering and reliving horrific events. Quilts from a grateful nation go a long way to comfort our soldiers, young and old. You are making it possible for a soldier to heal.