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Welcome to the Canadian Comfort and Remembrance Project in 2012 The goal of the CCRP is to bring comfort to some very special members of the Canadian family in a time when they are experiencing deep hurt and profound loss. "Nothing Says Comfort Like a QUILT" is the mantra of quilters. When a member of the Canadian Forces is lost in overseas operations, we have a quilt ready to give to the Next-of-Kin of the soldier. The CCRP has been established to help quilters (and potential quilters) to reach out in a tangible way and to literally wrap Canadian military family members in an embrace of comfort and love from fellow Canadians who care and want to reach out. In 2006, our first year, we sent 22 quilts to grieving mothers and spouses/partners of fallen Canadian soldiers. In 2007, our second year, we presented 54 quilts. In 2008, we presented 24; in 2009 we presented 21 quilts; in 2010 we presented 16, and in 2011 we sent 6. The project has been very well received. We have received nearly 200 quilts from volunteers across this land who felt a deep desire to help. When the CCRP began in early 2006 Jane was fearful that we would not be able to provide enough quilts to answer the requests that were received by the military's Casualty Support branch in Ottawa. As of 2012 the overwhelming response from Canadian quilters has placed us in a situation where we have over 50 quilts yet undesignated, and the withdrawal of the Canadian Forces from Afghanistan in 2011 means that the number of casualties has declined to nearly none. This means is that we are no longer asking for quilts to be started. If you are in the process of finishing a quilt that has already been started, we ask that you do send it once it is completed. We are committed to continuing this project as long as the loss of our military personnel visits grief upon Canadian families. We will continue to work together with our partners in the Casualty Support branch of the Department of National Defense to offer all the quilts we have received to the members of grieving military families in a respectful way that honours the sacrifice of both the family who have lost one of their own, and the quilters who have given of their time, funds, effort and creative talents to support and comfort them. If the situation changes and more quilts are needed, we will update this website, and re-instate our request for your help. We can't begin to express how thankful we are to the quilters who have given so faithfully and lovingly to produce so many beautiful quilts. We know that your gifts have been bringing tremendous comfort to all who have received them. We owe a huge "thank you" to each and every fabric artist who has contributed to the CCRP: to Jennifer Hodge, for creating the 'Maple Heart' (c) block and letting us borrow space on her website when we were getting started, to the CQA representatives who helped us get the word out and ramp up the tremendous effort which resulted in all the quilts we have received, to all the individuals and groups who have created quilts for the project, to our partners in DCSA and DND, to Joyce, who hand sews all the CDS hearts and many labels onto the quilts, and to our faithful webmistress, Lolly, without whom we would not be able to keep you up to date. Thank you very much, all of you. We want you to know that your efforts have contributed to a tremendous success, and that your love has touched the lives of Canadian families in their time of pain to bring them a true sense of comfort. We
wish you "piece." |
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