Quilted Care Packages

Wounded Soldiers Recieve "Four-By-Six Foot Hugs" On Road To Recovery

(CBS)  Arriving at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany is disorienting and surreal — stranded halfway between your family from the battlefield and your family back home.

A chaplain wheels a package out of the mail room. That's where the quilts come in: week after week, reminders that the injured are neither forgotten — nor alone.

"You get your choice pal," the chaplain says to one patient.

One quilt reads: "Made with love and hope for your recovery by Ginger Ann."

They are hopes and prayers stitched together by folks thousands of miles away, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier.

"There are people who have our backs," one soldier says.

Every single soldier, airman, Marine — or even an injured civilian who passes through these halls — gets a quilt. You could call it a four-by-six foot hug.

They're sent from places like Franklin, Tenn., about as far away as you can get from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dozier brought one of the quilts she was sent full circle to say thank you to the ladies who made it for her.

"Good to see you up and around," one woman said to Dozier, who was still re-learning to walk when it arrived.

Hundreds of groups like theirs all over the world have sent thousands of quilts to soldiers in need.

"Let me tell you, from anyone who's gotten one of your quilts, it means a lot," Dozier said.

"Whether you believe in the war or not, our troops are there, and we're Americans and we believe in these people who are making sacrifices and not only our soldiers and their families, and this is the one thing that we can do," said Marsha Ervin.

Some 250 quilts began their journey in rural Pennsylvania.

Dozier visited the women of the Cumberland Valley Quilters Association to find out how the quilts are made. Scraps of fabric are in piles everywhere.

"These are all scraps that have been donated to us," said Kathleen Hardin of the quilting association. "We sew them together just piece by piece and step by step."

Every woman here knows someone touched by war.

"To see these guys, on television, wounded — I want them to know that somebody cares," Hardin said.

For those who sew or knit them, the stitches in these quilts, afghans and blankets are a way of binding the injured troops to a family they never knew they had.

As one who has been through it, Dozier said, "it's something you never forget."

[mamejohnston]

Thanks for a beautiful story. I don't remember crying during a national news broadcast for many years. This one really touched my heart. Perhaps more stories like this one could be broadcast? Just a thought!

[shamrock143]

Is it possible to get info to contact someone about getting involved in this project of making quilts for our vets

[mmr1756]

I'd like to help make quilts. I can sew and have some fabric. How can I be contacted or contact an existing group already making quilts?

[karenstcroix]

For more info on quilts for soldiers go to QOVF.org - Quilts of Valor Foundation. It is very rewarding. Please get involved.

[kerimparrot]

This story is HISTORY. Great history but the Cumberland Valley Quilters Association's website says the Kimberly Dozier visited them 2 months ago. We all need stories like this so keep on keeping on , CBS

[love2sew2000]

Please let me know how to get involved and make a quilt for the soldiers...I was sso moved by the story!

[susan641]

What a wonderful story. How can I too get involved? I have several quilters who want to get involved also.

hsf895

[dls8818]

This was very exciting to the members of Operation:Quiet Comfort (operationquietcomfort.com) The last quilt shown, the jeans quilt with the messages written on it, was one of our quilts!