River's Bend Quilt Guild member Joyce Mong, left, and Paul McDevitt hold up the Quilt of Valor that the Korean War combat veteran was presented during the 2019 Veterans Day ceremony at Chicora Elementary School.

What could be more patriotic than supporting a combat veteran?

This Fourth of July, the 40 members of the River's Bend Quilt Guild of Chicora have been creating red-white-and-blue quilts that will be presented to veterans this fall.

Members began working on the quilts in January as part of the nationwide Quilts of Valor program, whose mission is to provide veterans touched by war with a comforting quilt.

Pam Mildren, guild president, said the group picks a different organization to receive its quilts every year. In the past, the quilters have given their handiwork to Haven, VOICe and the American Red Cross.

Mildren said, at the suggestion of member Joyce Mong, the group has made the Quilts of Valor Foundation the beneficiary of some of its members' quilts since 2018.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation is a national organization founded in 2003 by Blue Star mother Catherine Roberts, who had a son deployed in Iraq. When her son was deployed, she had the idea of comforting veterans with quilts.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that appears in Sunday's Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.