Welcome to "Quilts of Honor - the Travis Project"







Quilts of Honor - the Travis Project, was created out of a desire to honor not only the memory of SSG Travis Hunsberger, but to show honor and respect to the men and women he served with. I made a quilt for Steve & Ronda, Travis' parents, and presented the idea of making more quilts for the soldiers at Fort Bragg. There are numerous wonderful organizations who provide quilts to wounded and hospitalized soldiers, but I felt led to do something different. We decided our first project would be to provide a quilt to each of the men in Travis' unit at the time of his death. Our goal was to accomplish this by Christmas. I am happy to report that we have exceeded our goal, and on December 10 2008, two men from our church, Wakarusa Missionary, headed off to North Carolina to deliver 19 quilts!! In May of 2009, we were able to deliver another 33 quilts!! Since then, we have delivered approximately 40 more quilts to families of the fallen and also to Wounded Warriors. Your help is still needed in lots of ways if we are to keep this project ongoing. First and foremost, pray for these brave men and women who serve each day to keep us free and protect us from those who would seek to do our nation harm. If you are a sewist or quilter, I can use you, if you would like to donate fabric or funds, I can use you. If you'd like to leave an encouraging word, or perhaps you knew Travis and would like to share a memory, I can use that too!



For more information on how you can help, contact me through this blog, by phone @ 574-849-7930, or by email, mamabech@msn.com.



To mail donations, send them to:



Quilts of Honor, c/o Dawn Bechtel, P.O. Box 613, Wakarusa, IN 46573. (Checks should be made out to Quilts of Honor.)



Thanks for stopping by, God bless you, and God Bless America!







Sunday, March 29, 2009

NEW PROJECT!!!

We have a new project!!!
I have been corresponding with LeAnna the wife of one of the men in Travis unit who helped arrange our first quilt project. When the men were here in February, we talked about the quilts and what it meant to them, and several expressed the need for others to receive the show of support and encouragement such as they did. I have learned of two units who have each suffered three losses. One of those lost 3 men the day after Travis died back in June. The other also lost 3 men this past October. One of those men was the father of a newborn. LeAnna and I talked and tried to decide which unit to bless with quilts...how do you choose? I feel God tugging at my heart telling me to take on both. That would mean around 25 more quilts. Right now I have 4 complete, 2 in the process of being made. That leaves 19. Obviously, I cannot sew them all myself. Lord knows I want to...I'm asking once again for your generosity of time, talent, and finances to see this next project to completion. I mentioned it a month or so ago and had no real idea where the next batch would go. Now that I know, I feel more compelled to get moving. What's my time frame?...well...I REALLY would like them finished as soon as we possibly can. Originally I was hoping for mid-April, that isn't feasible anymore, so I'm going to say end of May. I'm flexible, but that's my goal. We made the last goal in 2 1/2 months, surely we can do it again :) You may ask what's the rush...Travis' unit is deploying again and I'd like them to be in on the quilt-giving before they go. (They don't know I want them to do that yet.) So...will you once again partner with me to show honor and respect to the men and their families who give so much for each of us every day? Thank-you in advance, and God bless you. And as always...God bless America!

More pictures from our first Quilt Project. . .

I apologize for my picture postings being out of order, but I have put them on here at the time I receive them. I've had these for awhile, just haven't had a chance to do anything with them. I figure most of you don't care, you just enjoy looking at them :) These pictures are from Steve, Ronda, and Kelsey's visit to Ft. Bragg in January when the men returned to the States. It was great for me to see some of them with their quilts. Hope you think so too.