Invited by their relatives, military veterans get quilts at Karns City elementary
CHICORA — Debbie Serafine attended her favorite assembly at Karns City Area Elementary School Monday, Nov. 9, but it was her son, sixth-grader Jonathan Serafine, who was particularly happy to see his mom in the gym that day.
Serafine is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served from 1998 to 2005, and was invited to the elementary school’s Veterans Day assembly by Jonathan, as usual. But this year, she got a special quilt from the River’s Bend Quilt Guild, which presented 15 veterans with quilts at the end of the program.
The quilt might have been as significant to Jonathan as it was to his mother.
“I’m really excited she got the quilt because it’s my last year here,” Jonathan said after the ceremony.
Karns City elementary has a ceremony for Veterans Day each year, when area military personnel are invited to the school for a program by the students. It includes songs, words from school administrators and some students and a recognition of the veterans in attendance.
For the last several years, the River’s Bend Quilt Guild has also presented quilts the members made to veterans. The ones who get quilts are nominated for the gift by students of the school, as well as people in the community, according to Sue Daniels, who heads the Quilts of Valor for the guild.
Daniels said the guild made about 30 quilts this year, which are all bound for veterans nominated. The group’s next presentation was set for East Brady, Daniels said. However, the awarding of quilts at Karns City Area Elementary School is exciting because it tops off a number of other efforts by the students.
“We actually have a form that we give the students, they fill it out if they know someone in their family who’s a veteran,” Daniels said. “We give most of them out here at the school — it seems to be the biggest event — and then the American Legion is the second biggest.”
Daniels said Quilts of Valor has been around since 2003, and the River Bend Quilt Guild has been a part of the initiative since 2018. The guild has a raffle each year to help pay for the batting and backing for the quilts.
“But the guild members are the ones that actually make the quilts,” Daniels said, “make the top, put them together, quilt them, bind them, it’s a whole process.”
Sheila Hillwig, a member of River Bend Quilt Guild, said the guild works throughout the year to prepare for the Veterans Day distribution, so the number of veterans awarded are limited only by the amount of quilts pumped out by the guild.
“We don’t really have a limit, we give as many quilts as we have,” Hillwig said. “We can only make so many.”
Each grade level sang a song at the assembly Monday morning, from “America to Me” to “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”
The Girl Scouts presented the colors, and student council members led the rest of the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The veterans in attendance then got to introduce themselves and share what branch of the military they served in, what years and if they have any interesting experience or served during a certain war. Many of them also shouted out the relatives they had in the room — almost all of them students of the school.
Topping off the ceremony was the River’s Bend Quilt Guild, who named each veteran receiving a quilt before wrapping one around each person as they stood front and center in the gym.
Brandon Bonzo, a Marine veteran, said getting the quilt was an honor that he didn’t know how much he would appreciate until the quilt was spread around his shoulders. He had a son in the school as well, and said the ceremony as a whole was reassuring because it showed that the young classes were learning about the meaning of military service.
“That’s awesome they did that,” Bonzo said. “I was just listening to their message and the meaning of it, and thought, ‘This is awesome.’”
Serafine said she was also touched by the ceremony.
“The kids put a lot of care into this,” she said. “It’s an honor.”
Daniels said the River’s Bend Quilt Guild will be working on next year’s quilts. Daniels read the names of who was being presented with a quilt, where she explained the meaning of each layer, each square that made up the quilts. The colors and patterns on them represent appreciation for military service. Daniels said the guild is happy to get as many nominations as possible for next year.
“We go wherever the need is, if they need a quilt to wrap them to make them feel whole, we take it to them,” Daniels said.
