Tis' the season of generosity!

Last week, Operation Kid Comfort received two amazing and much-needed donations. As long time members of the Operation Kid Comfort family, we are especially grateful to both Clothworks and Megamat for helping us fulfill our mission To Support the Children of Those Who Support America. We are sure you will be equally impressed with their assistance and products.

Remember that first box of 'colors' you used in kindergarten. Red and orange, green and blue, shiny yellow, purple too . . . Do you long for those bright true colors in your quilts? Well, Kathy York's Urban Landscapes from Clothworks will color your world!

Kathy's colorful fun quilts have thrilled many for some time now. Imagine our joy to hear she has her own line of fabrics loaded with bright colors, fun shapes and patterns! Perfect for our OpKids, we couldn't wait to include these wonderful fabrics in our quilts, and Clothworks sent us six bolts to 'play' with. Our volunteers are working with them now, so check back to see Operation Kid Comfort quilts created from Kathy York's Urban Landscapes.

What is the best mat to cut those fabrics on? A huge 32” X 53” Quilters Rule Megamat, of course!

Back in 2003, Megamat donated Quilters Rule mats and quilting tools to help us launch Operation Kid Comfort. These thick and easy to read mats have stood up to a lot of use from a variety of quilters, novice to experienced. But as you can imagine, with hundreds of volunteers making thousands of quilts, for all these years, we are well past time for replacements. Megamat came to our rescue again with two large mats. If we could get seven years out of our past mats, imagine how long they would last in the home quilting studio?

And this week, we were happily surprised to see Operation Kid Comfort the subject of Jerry’s Artarama blog: The Splatter. Blog writer Theresa Brown of Art Marketing Experts provided a wonderful article about Operation Kid Comfort and its history. Thank you both for highlighting our efforts to your audience.

We thank Clothworks, Megamat and Jerry's Artorama for remembering and honoring our very brave military families. Join us and all the supporters of Operation Kid Comfort in remembering our troops overseas, especially during this holiday season when the separation of parent and child can be especially difficult.

There is no better way to support our troops than to care for their families while they are away.

To donate to Operation Kid Comfort or any of the very special programs of the Armed Services YMCA of Fort Bragg via PayPal, please visit: https://fortliberty.asymca.org/services/operation-kid-comfort/

Ann Flaherty

Founder, Operation Kid Comfort

Thank You HP

It has been seven years since we first launched Operation Kid Comfort at Fort Bragg. An ongoing program of appreciation to our military families, Operation Kid Comfort quilts and pillows continue to be free of charge to America's Littlest Heroes, the children of our deployed service men and women.

Over the years, we've filled thousands of requests for our quilts. With nine photographs printed on fabric incorporated into each quilt, reliable printers are a must for this operation. Additionally, the process is costly.

From day one, Operation Kid Comfort has received the support of Hewlett-Packard Company. Last week, our friends at HP delivered a new HP Photosmart e-All in one Series D110 printer along with replacement ink cartridges to our workshop. In a word --- phenomenal!

Just right for the desktop, our volunteers find this printer the perfect tool to scan and print images for Operation Kid Comfort quilts and pillows. Fabric sheets print with ease and clarity.

All of us at Operation Kid Comfort and the Armed Services YMCA of Fort Bragg are grateful for the continuous support of HP. As we strive to Serve the Children of Those Who Serve America, and take comfort in knowing we can count on the many volunteers, contributors and corporations such as HP to assist us in that mission.

On behalf of the thousands of children we serve: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

Sincerely,

Ann Flaherty

Founder, Operation Kid Comfort