Grati-Tuesday 17 July 18

Some gorgeous thank you messages again this week.  I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do.  
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Dear Noelene, 

I would just like to say a big thank you for your care package, I really wasn't expecting one at all! I just hope that this email goes through correctly and doesn't land in your junk mail. 

I'm 32, married to my beautiful wife, have a very cute, soon-to-be 3 year old son and expecting a new member of the family in February.  I'm a doctor, trying to help as much as I can to keep everyone here healthy and assist when they're unwell. Luckily, everyone is doing well and I haven't had to do anything serious, which is a good thing. 

Once again, thank you very much for your lovely letter and care package.

Kind regards

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Good Evening Lyn

I had the pleasure to receive a lovely laundry bag that you have made on behalf of Aussie Hero Quilts.  Thank you for your generosity, I absolutely love it and it will be an item I will keep as a memento of my current deployment.  The work that you do is truly appreciated by defence members and something we all look forward to receiving.  

Thank you for your lovely letter and sharing apart of yourself with me.  I haven’t hadn’t the pleasure to visit the SA Riverland area yet but will defiantly be on my to do list.  I am currently deployed in the Middle East and the temperatures are very hot here at the moment.  This week has seen temperatures in the mid to high 50 degrees in the sun, so we are looking forward to some cooler weather in the coming months.  Thankfully we have air conditioning to escape to.

I joined the military 18years ago from a small country town in South East QLD.  I spent 15years in the Navy however transferred across to the Air Force a few years ago now.  I am employed as a Medic and enjoy my work both here and at home.  I am a mum myself to two children ( 2 & 5 ) years.  I have done a number of deployments now and each one brings new challenges and experiences.  

I am looking forward to coming home.  Myself and my husband have both deployed in the last twelve months so we have been very busy.  We also enjoy camping and adventuring around our great country.  We hope to buy a caravan ourselves on my return home.  Our plan is to spend the next few years discovering the NT and WA.   We have seen a lot of our beautiful country through our work but are looking forward to showing our children as well.  

Thank you again for your generous gift and please know it is greatly appreciated

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Good Afternoon Jan-Maree,

I have just received the quilt and laundry bag today and with much excitement and joy. Both were made with such great care and expertise and I feel privileged to have received them. The work that yourself and the other quilters do is amazing and greatly appreciated by all who receive them.

I must also convey the good feeling I had, being able to add such bright colours to my sleeping space, which was quite drab and boring.

The team and I will be getting a photo with all of the quilts and laundry bags and sending it in the near future, so that you can see how much we appreciate your hard work and see the people who benefit from it.

Please pass on my heartfelt thanks to Deirdre for the work that she has done and how much I appreciate the effort and time taken to make such a beautiful quilt and laundry bag.

It gives me such pride to serve my country and especially kind hearted people like yourselves.

Kind Regards 

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Good morning Ellen,

        I recently received a wonderful package in the mail. I wanted to pass on my extreme gratitude and thanks for the wonderful work you have done. My wife and our children absolutely love the design and I think that somehow, my 3 year old daughter will steal it from me once I am home.

        Please keep up the fantastic work you do as I know that it puts huge smiles on all our members over here when they receive their quilts or laundry bags.
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Dear Clarissa,

I would like to send out once again a big heartfelt thank you to yourself for the amazing quilt, I love it, and the addition of the Wallabies balloon and two of my favourite biscuit packs just topped it off.

Once again, thank you so much for the quilt, laundry bag and all the goodies inside, and thank you to yourself and all the Aussie Hero Quilts volunteers.
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Dear Fran

Thank you so much for the quilt.  It’s perfect!  The time and effort you’ve put into it, along with researching Tolkien’s runes is amazing.  The blue border was an inspired choice too, it really makes the lettering pop.  I’d love to know where you got the panels from.  I wouldn’t think Spotlight would have a large supply of Hobbit maps.

I’ve been serving in the RAAF as a Communications and Information Systems Controller (CISCON) since August 1996 when I joined from Tasmania.  Almost about to chalk up 22 years!  I’m married to J and we have 3 children.   J’s mum is also a quilter and so our house has a number of them gifted for many a reason.  

Thank you again.  Wishing you well.  Scott

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Hi Clarissa,

I’ve fallen in love with my laundry bag and quilt.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

They definitely lit up my tent.

I’ve taken a photo of myself and will send the pic via email once downloaded.

Believe me when I say your gifts are appreciated by all Aussie Hero quilt recipients.

Thank you for your support.

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Dear Ruth,

I am the happy new owner of your laundry bag.

It is exactly what I pictured when I filled the request form.

I’m a communications Tech currently serving in Afghanistan.

Over here it is hot, dusty and smells.

Now thanks to you I have a smile on my face whenever I do my washing.

(which is every day due to the amount of smelly gym clothes I go through).

Again, thank you for your support.

Thanks again for the washing bag.  I will treasure it always.

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Hi Jan-Maree

I would like to inform you that I have received the quilt and the laundry bag as well as other presents. The girl sent me a nice letter and how she made my quilt. Please thank her 100 000 millions times. I fell bad that she was going through so much trouble trying to fulfil my request. The quilt is very special to me and I love it very much. Please thank her very much. I think she put more effort on that quilt than I am doing on my deployment :). I am currently busy at work as well as some personal staff going on but I have her contact details and will try to respond one day (when the thinks getting settle). 

 Thank you is not enough, everyone here is been amazed by the efforts on my quilt as well on the other guys quilts. Thank you from my name and name of all deployed personnel.
All girls from Aussie Hero Quits deserves medals. 
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Dear Bridget,

I cannot thank you enough for the fantastic laundry bag and quilt that you have taken the time and effort to make for me.  I am absolutely chuffed with them, they look better than I could have imagined.

I personally am from a family of 6 children, 4 boys and 2 girls.  Both of my sisters married into the RAAF and my 3 brothers all joined the RAAF.  What choice did I have but to join the Army?!?  I have been serving for 14 years now in the RA Sigs Corps and can say that whilst the work is not always the most glamorous, the friends and mates that I have been fortunate enough to make and serve with does make it worthwhile.

I am a married member with 2 daughters, one has started high school this year, and the other is in her last year of primary school.  My wife is a registered nurse, who I’m sure that you can appreciate is very busy balancing both her career and family whilst I am away.  We are lucky in that my in-laws have been able to move into our family home to assist with taking care of the house and home, being there makes a huge difference.  The family home is completed by a mischievous cat who adopted us by coming to our front door and never leaving.

Life here is very hot at this time of year, but they have provided us with air-conditioners where possible.  We have access to a dining facility where we are served a wide array of different foods but can eat at the small local cafes if we would like a change.

Some of the services provided here are some gym facilities to pass away the time, and laundry and tailoring services.  We are provided with an internet service which helps immensely when keeping in contact with our families and loved ones back home, and keeping up with the news.

I would for my part like to express that we (deployed service members) appreciate the work and effort that all the sewing ladies put in to ensure that we are appreciated and not forgotten by the creation of these wonderful quilts and laundry bags.  I can certainly say with all honesty that a huge smile was on my face when I opened the package, and would expect that most reactions would at least be the same.

Yours sincerely,

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Dear Jan-Maree,

Thank you very much for your email. I am pleased to let you know that I have recently received my quilt and laundry bag. I absolutely love it and really appreciate it. I'm very grateful for all the work both yourself and all the quilters do in making these wonderful gifts. I cannot speak highly enough of the Aussie Hero Quilt's. Each and everyone one of you does an amazing job! Can you please pass on a personal message to Bev and Geoff C from Bendigo, thanking them for my quilt and bag. The quality and detail of both the quilt and bag is amazing and I'm very thankful for their gift. I hope they enjoyed their travels to Adelaide and Mildura for the craft and quilt shows.

I'm honoured to be able to receive these amazing gifts, and will cherish them forever.

Many thanks again, 
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Huge thanks to all our volunteers... you are the ones that make this work!

Till next time.... keep spreading the word and happy stitching.

Jan-Maree xx