Quilts Comforting Military Children

WASHINGTON - Three-year-old Hannah really misses her daddy. He has been in Iraq for almost a year.

"She's a real trooper,’ said her mother Shellie Jensen. ’She knows her daddy is doing something real important. But it's been a challenge."

Hannah talks to her dad - on pretend and real phones - but her mom was looking for something else to fill the void. When she heard that volunteers with Operation Kid Comfort make quilts for military children with their parent's photos on it, that sounded perfect to her.

"I thought a blanket would be a way ’ of Daddy hugging you. And knowing she's been with him before and he'll be back again, I think is what comforts her,’ said Jensen.

Cathy Jung knows how comforting these quilts can be. She got one for her son Nathan when his dad was in Afghanistan.

"When [Nathan] needed that extra piece of security, he had something to hold on to while daddy was away," Jung said.

Each quilt and pillow is made individually and upon request. So far, the organization has been able to fulfill every single request, no matter how big the family. One service member requested one of these for all eight of his children.

"You don't want to let that family down and say, `We’re sorry, we're busy.’ We just would never do that,’ said Mike Landers, deputy national director of the Armed Services YMCA.

Volunteers around the country have stitched and sewn 7,000 personalized quilts over the last six years and sent them - free of charge - to children under the age of six all over the country.

"The testimonials we get, the mom physically has to sneak into the bedroom at night, take the quilt and go launder it before the child wakes up the next morning, which I think is pretty spectacular," said Landers.

79-year-old volunteer Marilou Winkler says she grows more attached to the families with every stitch.

"I thought, where is that Dad? Is he still alive? Is he back on a second tour? Where is he?"

The quilt helped Nathan's family through a tough time. And even though dad is home now, the blanket is still very much part of the fabric of their lives.

"It's just a very tangible sense of comfort,’ Jung said. ’You can wrap it around you like a virtual hug with Daddy's picture on it."

As for Jensen, she and Hannah are counting down the days until their quilt arrives.

"She's making a sacrifice by having her dad gone for so long and these people are sacrificing their time and effort to make her feel a little more comfortable while her dad's been gone. [It’s] amazing. I'm excited to see what it turns out like," said Jensen.

For more information on Operation Kid Comfort, go to  www.asymca.org/2010/operation-kid-comfort-2/