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CBS man enthusiastic about Quilts of Valour

By Mark Squibb/March 24, 2023

A recent presentation of a handmade quilt to Army and Air Force veteran Don Neimor during Winterfest in CBS was just one of thousands of presentations that a volunteer organization has made since being formed almost two decades ago.

Quilts of Valour was formed in 2006 when Lezley Zwaal, a quilter in Edmonton, presented three quilts to three Canadian Armed Forces members for injuries they had received in Afghanistan.

“She was so moved by the stories they told and the sacrifices they had made for their country,” said Simon MacInnis, Conception Bay South’s Quilt of Valour representative. “And when she gave them the quilts, their response was overwhelming, and she couldn’t believe how thankful they were for this small gesture. So, she started reaching out to some of her friends in the Edmonton area to create more quilts, because there were more and more service people coming back from Afghanistan with injuries. And it just started progressing from there.”

To date, volunteers have donated over 20,000 quilts to veterans through the program.

MacInnis, who has called Conception Bay South home since 2005, has been involved with the organization since August of 2019, and is himself a past recipient of a Quilt of Valour.

“I did 10 years with the Canadian Armed Forces,” said MacInnis. “One day I went to the mailbox, opened it up, and there was a box in there. I opened up the box, and inside the box was a Quilt of Valour.”

Upon receiving the quilt, for which he was nominated by an anonymous person, he phoned the organization and asked how he could get involved.

“There are veterans who are more deserving than myself,” said MacInnis. “Because I didn’t deploy over seas. All my 10 years of service time was here in Canada during peacekeeping missions. So, I knew a lot of colleagues and people that I have served with that had done operational tours, from Afghanistan to Bosnia to Somalia. And I thought, ‘I know people who are way more deserving of a Quilt of Valour than myself.’”

He first began as a presenter, helping the organization present quilts to veterans at public events, but then became more involved at an operations level and has since become one of the public faces of the program.

The pandemic meant the organization had to hold off on presentations for some time, but now the group is eager to play catch up and present quilts that should have been presented during 2021 and 2022.

He said currently there are some 154 veterans in Newfoundland and Labrador awaiting a quilt from the organization.

“I’ve talked to the people that I’ve had an opportunity to present a quilt to, and they’re forever grateful,” said MacInnis. “Each quilt is put together with love. It’s a small token, a small way of saying ‘Thank you for your service.’”

Anyone who wants to get involved with the program, as a quilter or in some other capacity, can contact MacInnis at simon.macinnis@quiltsofvalour.ca.

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