HOPS program to honor veterans with quilts
Members of the Wooster-Wayne DAR worked together to make this Quilt of Valor to be awarded to a veteran during the Honoring Our Patriots' Service ceremony. Lynne Smallstey, middle, and Jolene Dyer, right, presented the quilt to Jeri Fickes, left, Honoring Our Patriots' Service program co-chair, during the August meeting of the Tree City Quilters' Guild.
For the third year, Honoring Our Patriots’ Service will present veterans with 100 handmade quilts and afghans in a ceremony on Sept. 14 at 3 p.m. in the Coliseum at the Wayne County Fairgrounds. The HOPS committee, which includes the Tree City Quilters' Guild, in partnership with the Wayne County Fair Board, will honor veterans through a ceremony during the fair.
HOPS was inspired by the Quilts of Valor Foundation, a national organization that has awarded over 354,000 quilts to veterans since its establishment in 2003. According to the website (www.qovf.org), the idea of the foundation was born out of a dream QOV founder Catherine Roberts had while her son was deployed on active duty. In her dream Roberts envisioned a haunted young man struggling to cope with the memories of war who then becomes enveloped in a quilt, providing comfort.
QOV was a collaborative effort from the beginning. The quilts are often pieced — the process of cutting and sewing the various fabrics together to generate a pattern or design on the quilt top — by one volunteer and assembled and then quilted.
Members of the public and civic and church groups are encouraged to participate in the HOPS program by generating quilts. Specific requirements for the quilts including dimensions, colors and types of items accepted can be found in Section 117 of the Wayne County Fair Premium Book. In order to encourage participation from the public, the Wayne County Fair Board has waived the premium membership fee and entry limits for this section.
Community members also are encouraged to nominate veterans for the HOPS program. Any veteran who is a resident of Wayne County is eligible to be nominated. For more information on the program or to nominate a veteran, email the HOPS program at HOPSWooster@gmail.com.
All of the quilts and other items to be awarded this year will be on display in the Grange Rotunda at the Wayne County Fairgrounds until noon on Thursday, Sept. 14, at which time they will be removed from the display to be given to the veteran honorees. The program, held in the Coliseum at the Wayne County Fairgrounds, will be hosted by Greg Long, a recipient of a HOPS quilt in 2021, and will include musical performances by Todd Patterson. Guest speaker this year is Ken Kitchen.