Grati-Tuesday 29 Jan 19

Greetings all from a very busy and productive day at HQ AHQ.  The girls have worked so hard today and I think they really deserve a round of applause for their efforts.  Several quilt tops are underway for urgent requests and a number of laundry bags have been cut out to be sewn at home. 

Have a read of the following messages... they certainly remind me why we do what we do.

.....

Hi Ellen, 

Thank you so much for the lovely quilt. It arrived late last week, but I have been having internet issues and only just back on line. 

I can see where your interest in supporting deployed military personnel comes from, with your strong family military ties. I also have quite a few past and present family members in the military, including one of my daughters. 

As a bit of background on me, I am an Air Force nurse, and have been in the RAAF for 22 yrs next month. I nursed in the public and private sector for about 18 yrs prior to joining the military. 

I have attached a photo of the quilt on my bed. Couldn’t master a selfie of me with the quilt. 

Enjoy your retirement, and know that your work with Aussie Hero Quilts is very much appreciated. 

Kind regards 

....

Dear Lyn,

I am currently deployed on Operation Resolute in the Middle Eastern Region. I am assigned to the Expeditionary Air Operations Unit.

I would like to say thankyou for the lovely laundry bag which you have made. I am very impressed with the quality of the bag.  I use the bag all the time and it makes it very easy to identify my washing now when it is amongst all the plain blue bags in the laundry.

I have been in the Royal Australian Air Force for 15 years. Back in Australia I am a Military Working Dog Handler. In my career I have had two dogs, both Belgian Malinois. My first was named Bronson and my second named Trooper. I have never deployed with my dogs but they have attended numerous exercises with me where my dogs have proven their worth in detecting the mock enemy before the enemy even knew we were there. In addition dogs are a great morale boost. Everyone loves it when I turn up with a dog and it's funny to watch my dogs that can turn from an aggressive driven hunter to a little puppy at the prospect of receiving numerous pats.

During my career I have been posted to RAAF Williamtown (near Newcastle NSW), RAAF Edinburgh (north of Adelaide), RAAF Tindal (near Katherine NT) and RAAF Wagga, NSW. One of the perks to military life is being able to explore the amazing country we live in and being able to take my family with me to share in this adventure.

Again thank you for the letter, postcard and the laundry bag.

.....

Dear Maureen

Thank you so much to you and Rocksberg Charity Sewing Group for all your hard work and giving up your time to make the beautiful quilt and laundry bag. The quilt is so beautiful and the detail is amazing! They will definitely be treasured and I am forever grateful.

I hope you have a wonderful new year and thank you again for your kindness and generosity.

I’ve got some chocolate and biscuits for you and your sewing group, I hope you like them.

.....

Hi Sandy,

I just wanted to thank you, Bev, Mary and Vicki for the hero quilt I received last week. I have been away with work and have not until now had a chance to write to thank you for the quilt. The quilt really made my day when I saw the excellent work that you have done which detailed everything I could have hoped for with the design.

I am over here with the C130J and we are away more than we are here so it was really great to return back to your parcel.

Ironically, I am from Coffs Harbour also. 

Thank you again.

.....

Dear Dianne, Heather and Dot,  what an amazing quilt you have made me. When I was told a friend had organised this for me I did not know what to expect.

The quilt is fabulous, great in detail and really beautifully made. You have made this Cat fan happy and humbled you made this for me (seeing my daughter's name on the quilt as well was very quite emotional).

Well I am not from Geelong, I am in fact from Newcastle, not dissimilar from Geelong, a proud big provincial city. I started following Geelong back in the late late 70s. The first game of live AFL I watched in Newcastle the Geelong team colour won and that was that. We also used to get the channel 7 Saturday match, I loved the game. I was fortunate to have played all of my RAAF career in Geelong colours as all the teams were RAAF cats.

Like you, my wife and I are CAT tragics.  Every game, every week we watch, I love the lads. Jimmy Bartel was my man crush.

We go to the GWS games regularly (don't judge us) as the football is easy to get to, and we get a footy fix in a Rugby League town.They are an exciting team to watch (except when they come play the Cats, all bets are off then). Loved it when Stevie J played for them.

This quilt will take pride of place on my bed until I come home. I have been here since Oct (wife's birthday) and looking forward to Australia again. Sincerely, thank you very much again, and GO CATS in 2019.

Regards,  

.....

Dear Helen,

                I am writing to thank you for making the laundry bag I was issued towards the end of last year whilst serving in HMAS Canberra. I misplaced your letter and only re-discovered it yesterday with your mailing address.

The bag features the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a ferry, Centre Point tower etc. and as my kids in Queensland love Sydney, they are currently more than happy to use it themselves until daddy returns to sea. At the time they were given out, I had just suffered a catastrophic  ‘blow out’ on my very poorly constructed, made in China bag issued by the Navy and was most relieved to receive my Sydney Harbour Bridge bag.

Thank you again for taking the time to make this quality product to make my life at sea easier. I am 43 and go to PT/gym at least twice a day at sea to keep fit so it certainly gets a work out.

.....

Dear Susan,

Thank you so much for the heartfelt warm wishes you sent with the lovely quilt and laundry bag.  You made me feel so special.  I shared the chocolates with my workmates as we looked over the details of the quilt.  I had to leave the laundry bag at work for a few days.  It was so wonderful.  The quilt is on my bed as a reminder of home.  It’s a little cool at night too so it’s perfect.

You’ve done a beautiful job.  I hope you had a wonderful festive season.

Love to you always.

.....

Dear Lisa N 

Thank you so very much for the beautiful quilt. I don’t think I have ever received such a beautiful and thoughtful gift. I apologise for my lateness in sending you this letter. I have just completed my tour and have come home.  Knowing that there are such great Australians back home who care about what we do makes our job much brighter. Your gift was so wonderful and it means so much to me. 

.....

Hi Ruth,

I just wanted to thank you for the hero laundry bag I received last week. I have been away with work and have not until now had a chance to write to thankyou for the laundry bag. It really made my day when I saw the excellent work that you have done which detailed everything I could have hoped for with the design.

I am over here with the C130J and we are away more than we are here so it was really great to return back to your parcel.

I really appreciate the work that you are doing. It brightens the faces on the people here when they receive their parcel from Hero Quilts.

Thank you to you and your family.

Much appreciated,

.....

Clarissa,

I firstly must apologise for my tardiness in writing to you. I received you
beautiful laundry bag and have enclosed a pic of me with it out the front of
our Headquarters building. It is a great morale booster to receive a
personalised Aussie Hero Laundry Bag and I know they are made by a generous
group who volunteer their valuable time to make them. I was even more
surprised to see it came from someone not far from me in Sydney. Thank you
too for sharing with me some details of your family and interests to a
stranger, it was nice to learn something about you and your family.

I'm an Aeronautical Engineer posted to Air Mobility Group and RAAF Base
Richmond, and I'm currently one of 12 Australian Mentors from all three
services, as well as coalition partners, embedded into an American unit with
the responsibility to help the Afghan Air Force through a Train, Advise and
Assist mission, known as TAAC-Air. The aim of this mission is to develop the
Afghan Air Force into a Professional, Capable and Sustainable Air Force and
so far has been a rewarding experience.

As I said before, I'm and engineer by trade with the RAAF and have just
celebrated my 23rd anniversary earlier this week. Its certainly doesn't feel
like 23 years since I left home and commenced my studies at the Australian
Defence Force Academy. I've always been around the military, in particular
the Air Force and my father was also in until I started high school.
Accordingly, I moved around as a child, being born in Perth and moving to
East Sale (Vic), Richmond, Canberra and then Townsville before my dad
retired from the Air Force. My career has then taken me to Canberra, Perth,
Richmond, Darwin, Canberra, East Sale and Richmond, so I've moved around
Australia a fair bit!

Unfortunately the difficult part of the deployment is the time away from home, especially as I'm deployed for all of our Birthdays, Christmas and our Anniversary.
Deployments aren't new to my wife and I, I was deployed with our C-130's
when we were dating, but this is my first major time away since
having kids. 

I'm lucky we have internet and modern methods of communication
as children grow so quickly...I was able to see my son's first steps before
leaving, now he's running around and climbing everything. Modern
communication also has its drawbacks, my daughter is very much a daddy's girl and
at that age where everything is so blunt and her comments at time certainly
pull the heart strings, having to say goodbye to her to come over here was
also one of the toughest things I've had to do. 

Our time over the last 18-24 months has been heavily focused on the kids and building a new home in Kellyville. Handover was Apr last year and then
we had a busy 5 months of moving, fencing, landscaping, completing the pool
and additional work before I left at the start of Oct.  I know the pool has
been a huge hit since I left, especially with the heat wave you're going
through.

Whilst a little over the half way mark, I have my deployment leave coming up
in late Feb and looking forward to coming home to spend some quality time
with the family and recharging for the final few months of the deployment.

Thankyou once again Clarissa for the laundry bag, I certainly brightened my
day! 

.....

Dear Bridget,

Firstly, thank you very much for the quilt I received from you earlier this week, you did an excellent job and I really appreciate work you put into it and the letter you wrote.

I am currently deployed to the Middle East region as a part of Force Support Element-9, and this is my first deployment. The Force Support Element is a varied group of ‘behind the scenes’  troops gathered from all different job roles across the Army to provide theatre support to deployed forces in the Middle East and North Africa regions. My specific role within FSE is as a Fitter Armourer, my job being to inspect, repair, modify and recondition weapons systems employed by defence. Although weapons take up the biggest part of my time, I also work on small engines, plant equipment, and other engineering tasks like welding and machining.

Back home I am based in Darwin, before that I was in Albury Wodonga. Both of which have very different climates to Brisbane which is where I am originally from, and where my family still lives. I am engaged to my partner, we are getting married a few weeks after I get back, and we have a son who turned 1  in early January. When he is not keeping us busy we love going four wheel driving and camping and exploring all the places the Northern Territory has to offer. I also love shooting and working on my car.

Once again, thank you very much for the quilt, it definitely means a lot to everyone here to know we have the support of people like yourself back home.

Regards,
.....

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