From left, Andy Murphy, Ruth Scholtz, Carrie Meyer, vice president of Main Street Sewing Society and Michele Hard, owner of Michele’s Quilting and Sewing, proudly stand with the quilt that Andy’s mother, Ruth, made for him at an event Sunday afternoon in Blue Earth where many local veterans received a Quilt of Valor. Andy was in the U.S. Army from 2004-2012 and served in Afghanistan during Enduring Freedom.

BLUE EARTH — The Main Street Sewing Society presented quilts of valor to local veterans on Sunday. Eighty-nine quilts were presented to veterans outside Michele’s Quilting and Sewing in Blue Earth.

Carrie Meyer, Vice President of Main Street Sewing Society said it’s a non-profit organization that consists of a lot of sewing enthusiasts.

“We do a lot of sewing for community service work, but our main project is doing the quilts of valor program for veterans of Faribault County,” Meyer said.

Meyer said they’ve been doing the project since 2012. About 20 people work on the quilts year-round and they meet about four times a year as they’re an informal group.

She said there’s a national quilts of valor program, but they’re not part of it because they want the quilts to stay local.

“Our main mission is to cover all of the veterans in our county. We want them to know how much we appreciate them,” Meyer said.

Meyer said they have been going by wars. They’ve covered all of the WWII veterans and Korean War and now they’re covering Vietnam. They get their list from the legion clubs or from word of mouth from families.

“We find out how many quilts we have done and then we have all of the names of the vert’s put into a bowl and draw names to determine who gets a quilt this year. We give as many as we have available,” Meyer explained.

Since 2012, Meyer estimates they’ve distributed over 300 quilts.

“In the past, we used to have a building at the fairgrounds and at the end of the Faribault County Fair they would come in and pick up their quilt, and those who couldn’t make it had theirs delivered by Milt and Donna Steele.”

With Covid, last year there was no fair so veterans went to Michele’s Quilting and Sewing to pick them up.

“That worked so well. It was more weather friendly and easier so we decided to do it that way again this year,” Meyer said.

Meyer said there are several sponsors who contribute to them, including the American Legion Clubs of Blue Earth, Elmore and Winnebago, Blue Earth Community Foundation, and members of Thrivent Financial.

Meyer shared that a lot of their group’s members are either veterans themselves or have family members who are veterans. She shared why they continue the program year after year.

“We have gotten such positive feedback, especially the families of veterans who receive our quilts. It’s a great way to honor them for what they’ve done and it’s important to us to have every veteran in our county receive one,” Meyer said.