By AMY FORTIER
Staff Writer
AmyLaurelFortier@hotmail.com

FOR A FALLEN HERO – Bev Wright, 24-year resident of Candia, has donated many hours of hertime to the Marine Comfort Quilt Group. Here she hangs one of the quilts she assembled fora family who lost a loved one in the warin Iraq. (Amy FortierPhoto)

For Bev Wright of Candia, quilting is not just her favorite hobby, it is a way she can offer comfort to the many families who have lost a loved one in the war in Iraq. She is making a difference, one stitch at a time.

Wright is a member of the Marine Comfort Quilt Group, along with 450 other people nationwide. The group was formed in 2003 when two mothers of Marines decided to make quilts for the families who had lost a loved one in the war. They assembled squares and sewed them together to form a quilt commemorating the fallen Marine, and then sent them to the family as a token of sympathy and support.

The quilts were very appreciated by the families and many other women soon joined the group to help.

After two years, the group has expanded to include all branches of the service, not just Marine families, meaning that any family who registers for a quilt can receive one.

“While we do not know how long this will go on, we will continue to bring comfort to each family of the fallen, one quilt at a time,” said Jan Lang, one of the founders of Marine Comfort Quilts.

Wright has been involved with this group for a year. Before she joined, Wright worked as a tailor and made comfort quilts out of the clothing of a deceased loved one as a memento for a family. Wright first discovered the group after seeing a letter in The Union Leader that gave the Web site, and she immediately signed up. Wright has assembled three quilts and has made over 150 squares.

“This helps me feel like I am making a difference. These guys have made the ultimate sacrifice, and I feel so sorry for their families. I don’t know how I would handle losing a child, or a brother or a sister. In a war, you kind of feel helpless, like there is nothing you can do, but I can do something now,” said Wright.

Each of the quilts is assembled from different squares made by people all over the country. Many of the squares are intricately quilted with stars, flags, and other patriotic motifs and colors, but Wright said people who do not sew should not be deterred from helping the group.

Many of the Marine Comfort Quilt volunteers have set up stations outside shopping plazas where passing people can write a message with fabric pens on cloth squares. Some of the most touching squares are the simplest, with only hand-written messages of thanks and appreciation for the sacrifice the deceased has made.

Children often do hand prints in red, white and blue paint or draw pictures. People are free to create squares any way they choose, as long as they are a specific size. Completed squares are shipped to a location where people sort them, ensuring that each quilt only gets one of a particular design. The squares are then packed into a “quilt kit” with the backing fabric, batting and a special square that is embroidered with the name, rank and military division of the deceased soldier. The entire kit is then mailed to a volunteer to be assembled.

On the day she received her kit, Wright posted on the Web site: “What a most precious gift I had waiting for me in my mail yesterday. Many shapes and colors of material, all lovingly stitched together and some with written messages from the heart, from all over this vast nation of ours. In my heart, I can feel the love from these quilt squares. Hours of work from many busy hands coming together in unity for the common purpose of providing comfort for a fallen hero’s family. How very proud and honored I am that I am able to participate in this wonderful project.”

Wright said hearing the stories of the grateful families who have received quilts makes all the time she spends quilting worthwhile. She spoke of a woman in Florida who had not slept since she heard the news that her son had died until she received her comfort quilt, and that night she slept soundly. Another family did not receive their quilt until a year after their son had been killed and were extremely touched to know that their son’s sacrifice was still remembered a year later.

Wright said the online group is also a source of support for military families and the triumphs and tragedies of daily life are shared.

The list of grateful families goes on and on, but so does the list of families who should receive quilts. The group survives solely on contributions of people’s effort, time and money. Wright said if people do not feel up to making squares, monetary donations are also greatly appreciated because the fabric and shipping can be expensive.

Wright is the corresponding secretary for the Candia Community Woman’s Club and she hopes to get the group involved in making some quilts in the near future. She encourages everyone in the community to make a few squares to show appreciation for the men and women who have lost lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Even though she does not know the men and women killed, nor does she ever meet the families she makes quilts for, Wright feels she does know the people she makes her squares for. Wright wrote in a letter accompanying a quilt for the family of Dustin Fitzgerald in Ohio:

“Just because I have never met Dustin doesn’t mean I did not know him. I do know that he was young and handsome and he was struck down in the prime of his life, defending a country that he loved. He was brave, for at 22 he risked his life to help a nation become free from a monster dictatorship. He was selfless, for he gave the ultimate sacrifice, his own life. He defended the night and day so that my family and I can enjoy freedom. So you see, I do know Dustin.”

People interested in helping out or joining Marine Comfort quilts can call Bev Wright at 483-2494, or log onto www.marinecomfortquilts.us.