Et cetera : Quilting Ladies invite Freedom Quilts founder Betty Nielsen to Vinton

Betty Nielsen spoke to an audience at Bethlehem Lutheran Church Saturday morning.

The Freedom Quilts honor fallen soldiers and tell their life stories.

This Freedom Quilt was on display in Vinton Saturday; it will be raffled for fund-raiser.

This block is part of the quilt being raffled for a Freedom Quilt fund-raiser.

Betty Nielsen poses with quilts for photo at www.freedomquilts.net.

Betty Nielsen and her family have comforted thousands of grieving families since Sept. 11, 2001.

Her Freedom Quilts have been on display in the traveling 9/11 Memorial, the Pentagon and thousands of homes of people who have lost a loved one.

On Saturday, Nielsen made her first visit to Benton County, thanks to a request from the Quilting Ladies of Bethlehem Lutheran Church.

Nielsen, who lives in Fonda in northwest Iowa, shared with approximately 50 people how she and her husband Dennis began making quilts to comfort the families who lost loved ones on 9/11. Her work expanded when U.S. soldiers began fighting and dying in Afghanistan and Iraq. It expanded more when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Floods of 2008 impacted thousands in Cedar Rapids.

At any given time, Nielsen can name the exact number of quilts her organization has given to grieving families. Her answer on Saturday, when asked how many was 6,777.

And there are thousands more waiting.

“I have received more than 3,500 emails,” she said Saturday.

Betty and Dennis do much of the embroidery, designing and quilting. They do have a team of volunteers as well.

Along with sharing the mission and the history of Freedom Quilts, Nielsen showed the Vinton audience several of the quilts she has recently finished. She obtained permission from the families for whom she made the quilts to display them in Vinton.

Most of the Freedom Quilts made now are for fallen soldiers, although at times Nielsen continues to receive requests for 9/11 victims. She recently made a quilt for a NY firefighter who died that day. “His father was a fireman, too,” said Nielsen.

Nielsen speaks personally to virtually every family for whom she makes a quilt. She speaks to the mothers or spouses of the fallen soldiers to learn what their lives were like.

The quilts often feature photographs of the fallen heroes, as well as quilt blocks featuring the things those heroes did and loved as children and adults. Pictures of the soldiers as children, or with their children, are included on many of the quilts Nielsen makes.

The quilts on display at Bethlehem Lutheran Church Saturday morning included a John Deere tractor (on a quilt honoring a National Guard soldier who had been a diesel mechanic), baseball and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which had been a childhood favorite of one of the fallen soldiers.

Nielsen keeps in touch with many of the families. Many mothers send thank-you notes and emails containing photos of them with their quilts.

One mother whose letter is posted on the freedomquilts.net web site wrote, “ Please know that I will cherish this quilt for the rest of my life. …Please know that I am forever thankful for all of the support, love and prayers that you have bestowed on the memory of my son with this quilt. And thank you so much for supporting the families of all of our fine men and women in uniform.”

For more information about Freedom Quilts, click HERE.