Grati-Tuesday 27th December 2022

 

Happy Tuesday Friends!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas Day and 

welcome to the last Grati post for this year!  

Wishing everyone the Happiest of New Years 

for the coming weekend.

Grab a nice cool beverage, sit back, relax and 

enjoy some beautiful thank yous! 

...

Dear Abbi W,

I received the quilt and laundry bag last week and I couldn't be happier. I love the design, especially the Japanese ladies under the wisteria - it's beautiful.

It touched my heart reading your letter about your family and I wanted to write back straight away to tell you how grateful I am. I didn't know what to expect when I put those themes but it turned out better than I could have imagined so, thank you!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday and New Years :)

Warm regards,

...

Hi Sofia,

 

I am writing to send you a very big thank you for the special laundry bag that you made for me. It is my favourite Christmas gift and has come at the perfect time because I am returning to the Army in early January 2023.

I love that it has the Australian flag as well as representations of the Australian bush on the back.

 

I served in the Army Reserves for 14 years (2000-2014) and I am returning to serve full time in 2023. When I was serving, I was a rifleman and was sent to Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands. I also did 3 months training in Malaysia.

 

I am very proud of your work, and that you choose to do the Duke of Edinburgh and create laundry bags as part of your service. I’ll be sure to use the special Laundry bag you made me, and I’m sure people will be asking me about it!

 

Have a Merry Christmas and keep up your great work, you have a special talent.

 

Kind Regards,

...

Hi Jan-Maree,

Thank you for the Aussie Hero Quilt you made for a NZ veteran. I went to his home in Sydney and personally presented it to him. With his age and declining memory, he is usually not a man of many words, but he had a big smile on his face and was admiring all the personal touches  and was very thankful.

He has had a rough time with DVA, and medical issues post service, and NZ soldiers can sometimes feel a bit left out of the loop being in Australia, so it was a very nice touch that I could present this to him to honour his service. 

Thank you,

Note from Jan-Maree - This quilt was actually made from donated blocks which were put together by the Garage girls and then it was personalised and completed by Keryn.

...

Dear Jan-Maree,

I had a fabulous time meeting you and the other quilters from Aussie Hero quilts. The whole weekend was amazing and opened my eyes to the extraordinary people who dedicate themselves to supporting those who serve. I had an amazing time at the dinner and the brunch on the Sunday. I really hope the weekend showed you how much your work means to the troops and myself. I hope you were able to meet more of the troops you have supported through your work. I am glad I was able to get so many of my troops to the brunch to support all the fantastic volunteers of AHQ. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the time and effort that you have put into making my extraordinary quilt. It means a lot to me that you would take the time and money to create me something that will stay with me for years. You have done a fantastic job showing the story of my career and my passions, starting as a Digger to my current role as an Officer.  Your work is outstanding and I will take it with me on all my trips and deployments. When times get hard on deployment your quilt will help me to remember why I serve and what I have to look forward to when I return.

As you know I had never heard of AHQ until you reached out. My Middle East deployment was back in 2010 before AHQ was established. I was one of those diggers that got injured and had nothing after they had cut off all my clothes during triage. It’s a traumatic experience laying on a stretcher with a group of people around you that you don’t know. After all of that you end up laying in the ward with nothing, no clothes no personal items and worst of all you don’t know anyone, it is quite a testing experience. Knowing now that troops have your quilts to bring them some comfort is amazing. 

I appreciate your letter, it was lovely to learn about you and your story along with all the achievement that you and AHQ have attained. I wish you the best in you continued efforts to support the ADF and its Sailors, Soldiers and Aviators as they serve Australia. 

Thank you for all of the work and effort you put into supporting us, I greatly appreciate it. 

Hope you have an amazing Christmas and New Year. 

Kind regards

...

Until next week keep your letters, emails and photos coming in.  

Tuesday's would be so totally boring without them!

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎆🎆🎆🎆🎇🎇🎇🎇