Grati-Tuesday 28 October

Hi all
Some lovely messages to enjoy tonight but first it is time to remind you all of our upcoming Christmas Dinner. 

It will be held at my home in Sydney on Thursday the 11th of December at 630 for 7pm.  I need to start working out numbers so if you are planning on coming please send me an email to friendsofAHQ@gmail.com and put Christmas Dinner in the subject line.  

Hope lots of you can make it as it promises to be a great night.

Also, have you started making your Laundry Bag for the Christmas Dinner Challenge yet?
I received the first bag in the mail yesterday!  I am looking forward to seeing the rest.

Just as a reminder here is what you need to do.

Please make a laundry bag that fits with the theme...

Aussie Summer/Aussie Icon

and send it to 

Aussie Heroes LBC (that stands for Laundry Bag Challenge) 

PO Box 248

Cherrybrook,  NSW,   2126

It is to arrive with me no later than December 8th.

So, now on with the thank you messages. 

.....

Dear Joan and Robin,

Thank you so much for the lovely laundry bag you made for me, it is great and was an excellent morale boost for myself and my team. I am a bit scared to use it as I don't want to get it dirty so I may just hang it on our wall. 

Take care and best wishes from the worlds largest sandpit.

.....

For Rita M

Thank you thank you thank you from a mother of a serving soldier x My son is so happy

.....

Dear Alice and Tom,

Thank you so much for the lovely quilt you made for me, it is great and was an excellent morale boost for myself and my team. Your generosity and time spent making these quilts is hugely appreciated and the boys get a great kick out of knowing that we are the lucky ones who get the honour of serving our great country and its wonderful people, such as yourselves. It is a pity that your grandson joined the Army but we won't hold that against him, I'm sure he'll see the light and transfer to the good side haha.

Once again thankyou very much for the wonderful gift and please keep it up as it does make a huge difference, just tonight 5 other boys signed up to the organisation.

Take care and enjoy travelling, you have earnt it

Best wishes from the worlds largest sandpit.

.....

Dear Alicia,

I have just received the wonderful quilt you made for me. Thankyou so much for such an awesome gift. I was very surprised to see that it was made by you, XXXX's mother. I briefly lived next to XXXX in the lines just before he deployed.

Please also send along my thanks to your friend Sally. She made a very cool beanie and it will come in handy in the next few weeks as the temperature starts to drop.

I am very glad to hear that XXXX's deployment inspired you to become involved in such a great cause. The last time I was over here the organization didn't exist, but our work was in the media and more known to the general population. So we would receive lots of nice letters and packages from people at home. Now days very few Australians seem to understand that we are still here. It makes me glad that the Aussie Hero Quilt bunch do this and show so many that we aren't forgotten.

Once again thankyou so much for the quilt and the beanie from Sally. I hope all is well at home with yourself and your family.

Regards,
.....

Hi Fran,

Thank you very, very much for the quilt and laundry bag. Both of them look awesome and are already in use.

Thank you for your support to us, the ADF. No need to thank me for what I'm doing but thanks anyway.

It's starting to get cold here in Afghanistan so the quilt is already doing its job.

I just wanted to let you know I was pretty excited to get the quilt and did show it off once I cracked open the package.

Appreciate the effort.

Regards,

.....

UNCLASSIFIED

Good morning Maree and Jan-Maree,

I received the quilt and laundry bag today, when the parcel arrived I was very excited by what could be inside. I waited until I went back to my room after dinner before I opened the package (its a bit like Xmas really), I have to say, what a fantastic piece of artwork. I could not have imagined what the quilt would look like, but based on the photos that I had seen of previous ones I was sure it would be great, I am worried about putting it on the bed though in case it gets dirty...........In all honesty, this reminds me of home especially my grand kids rooms who spend a lot of time with us, my mother in law when she was alive was a seamstress who also quilted, and it will be a pleasure to return to my room each day and reflect on home.
I can say with all honesty that everyone who is deployed, who have taken up the opportunity of a quilt, has had their time deployed made that much more comfortable and easier. I thank you all with much gratitude for the tireless and selfless work that you and your organisation devote to this project. . Please keep up the good work, in all areas, it is greatly appreciated by all.

Cheers,

.......
For Barb

.....

G'Day Jan-Maree 

I'm happy to let you know that I've received my quilt safe and sound and it's keeping my fairly warm, as the weather here is getting chilly :) I appreciate all the hard work and effort that went into this exquisite quilt , grandma would be impressed. Again thank you very much for your kind gifts

Cheers 

.....
For Cher T

I recently received a great laundry bag made by you guys and I just wanted to write and say thank you so much for your thoughts and for the time that it would have taken you to complete such a great personalised laundry bag, we are all very lucky!

It is really nice to know that there are people back home who think of us an appreciate the work that we do. I can assure you that we are all very touched that you guys take the time out of your lives to do something special for us, and I know that it was very comforting for my wife when I told her about my laundry bag and quilt, along with the kind words.

I recently returned from a five month tour in Afghanistan and am looking forward to spending some time with family and friends over the Christmas period. We are always pretty busy at our  unit and you really need to make the most of your time off, because before you know it you don’t have time to scratch yourself again.

I hope that you guys are fortunate enough to have your Son home for Christmas, but  know that he would be busy also, It can be a lot to ask of families with loved ones in the ADF, but when there are thoughtful and kind people out there like yourselves, I think it makes it a bit easier for everyone.

Thankyou once again, you are good and kind people.

Sincerely yours

.....

Dear Caroline,

I recently had the pleasure of receiving your quilt and laundry bag. Thank you very much for all the effort you put into both items. They are very pleasing to look at and certainly bring some colour and joy to my mess. I loved the jerky you have very good taste! Cheers also for the Sudoku book - hopefully I can graduate from the easy level by the end of the deployment.

Thank you for all that you do for Defence members serving overseas, it is greatly appreciated.

.....

Hi Stephanie D,

I'm writing to say thankyou for the Hero's care package you sent me, which arrived today.

I was pretty excited to have a personalised laundry bag - I never find mugs and key rings at the newsagency with my name on it so think it is pretty novel! One of the boys in the office is a big Suduko fan, so I let him have the booklet and I will make use of the girly toiletries, thankyou :-)

It is easier to cope with (the current challenges) knowing that we have the support from people back home like yourself, that you would take the time out to demonstrate that you care, that is what I will think of each time I use/see your laundry bag :-)

Sincerely,

.....

Hi Lynn,

I recently received my laundry bag in the mail, thank you so much it is lovely! I will definitely put it to good use, although it is almost too nice to use for dirty laundry! Thank you also for the other little goodies in my parcel I have shared them around 😊

I am in the Air Force and working as part of the air load team here on deployment. It is a very rewarding job and I am having a great time, although I just got here and have a few months to go.

Thanks again for my parcel it is really appreciated and an unexpected surprise 😊

Regards

.....

Hi Noeleen,

My quilt arrived today.  Thank you so much - I love it (and the little goodies you put in there as well)!  I love pink and turquoise so it was perfect.  It fits nicely on my single bed.  It brightens up my room immensely!
Thanks so much again for the beautiful quilt.

Kind Regards,
......

I am writing to thank you, Lynn, Kym and co. for the fantastic quilt which recently arrived here in Kabul. The level of detail – particularly in the stitching of the ‘rifleman’ is mesmerizing. Moreover, the personal touches each of you has made referring to Australia (including the logo  of my beloved Carlton Football Club!) has made the quilt extremely special and something I will cherish. Of course, the Carlton logo immediately signaled that your work to personalise the quilt wasn’t merely a stroke of luck! Rather, as I subsequently found, the quilt has been carefully crafted based upon the advice of my wife who has been admiring the work of your team for some time. As I understand it, she is now happily assisting Aussie Hero Quilts with some of the administration and is equally as grateful for your commitment to my/our quilt.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for the personal letter included in the package with the quilt. As I’m sure you understand – to have a personal gift from Australia thanking me for my service is humbling However, to have such a gift from a family of service-people is almost overwhelming and has made the gift all the more special.

Upon my return home next year, the quilt will remind each of us of this deployment experience (amongst the others). Moreover, the quilt will serve as a reminder of why I choose to soldier, and of the sacrifices my wife and son make in their support for me. Thus, in closing – all three of us wanted to thank you, Lynn, Kym and the families of the Aussie Hero Quilts team for providing such a wonderful gift. In doing so, we wanted each of you to know that you have personally touched our family (as you have many others) in a way that will be remembered and treasured. .....

Till next time...............keep spreading the word and happy stitching! 
Jan-Maree xx