Grati-Tuesday 17 June

Hi all, 

we have some great thank you messaeges below. 

Enjoy!

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I’m writing to thank you and your organisation for the outstanding work you are doing in support of our troops. A massive thank you to Irene, the creator of the outstanding quilt I received recently.

When the box was opened, I was overwhelmed by the work that had gone into the  quilt and the personalising that had been worked into it from the brief information I had supplied.

When I return this will have pride of place at home and be treasured by my family and their descendants always. I attach an image of the quilt, suitably displayed.

Heartfelt Thanks

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Dear Lenore,

I have just received a beautiful care package that you recently sent me. Thank you so much!

It was very unexpected but a wonderful surprise. I love the blue and green quilt; it will definitely get used out here to brighten up my room! My room mate is quite envious :) It is nice to know that people back home are thinking about us - when the Government tells the public that we have pulled out of this war, it is easy to forget about the last few still here…

I have attached a photo of us and a short clip for you - I hope it goes through!

Anyway, thank you again! Your package and thoughts are very much appreciated!

PS - Thanks for the tim tams! They made it without melting :)

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Hi Sue, 

        I am a  Sergeant  in the RAAF currently serving on deployment in the Middle East. 

I recently received a laundry bag and gift pack that you sent as part of the Aussie Heroes scheme. Although I don't think of myself as a hero I was very happy to receive this pack and because I am usually based in the NT I particularly liked the Indigenous theme.  I really appreciated your gifts.  This package arrived when my spirits were a little low and it has actually lifted my spirits right up to the point where I feel I can achieve anything again. 

The laundry bag is also a practical gift for where I am. Our laundry facilities are always crowded and everyone has the same issued plain blue bag. Your gift will get a lot of use and will make it easy for me to finding my laundry among all the rest.

Thank-You very much.

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Jan-Maree

I have received the Quilt and laundry bag, it is fantastic, great stitchwork and the design incorporated what I liked. It was great to have the information about the people that make the quilts and the photos and explanation of how mine was made, it added that special something to it.

Thanks again and if you could please pass on my thats to all that are involved it would be greatly appreciated. If it is OK can you please send me an address so I can post back something in appreciation of the efforts.

Thanks again.

Kind regards

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Hi Sue,

Thank you so much for the quilt, it is great.

My job is an Aircraft Tech and we work all hours of the day and night on various shifts, so it's nice to rug up under a new quilt when I finish for the day.

I am about half way through this rotation so the end is in sight..

Thanks again for the quilt and letter.

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Hello Peggy, 

Thank you so much for the quilt! My friend whom I used to work with when I was posted up in Townsville, requested one for me and so it was a lovely surprise to receive it. It's amazing and got quite a lot of comments from my colleagues here.  I am the only Australian in our little group, but there are other Aussies scattered around so I get to hear familiar voices every so often.

I appreciate what you do so much, as I'm sure the others who benefit from your work do. You must have touched so many lives already and certainly you've made my time here a bit easier :).

Take care and thank you so much,

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Dear Jan-Maree,

Thank you very much to you and all the people who helped work on my Tiger's themed quilt! It is absolutely great and my partner can't wait for me to get home so she can put it on our couch :)

I really appreciate all the effort you and your team go through to provide us with quilts and laundry bags. They make a big difference to us and mean a great deal. 

I will check out your blog when I am home as I am now quite keen to try making one. I have been blown away by the great work on all the quilts the crew members have been receiving and it is really nice knowing you are thought of and are being appreciated. 

Thanks to everyone for all your hard effort making these, getting them organised and personalised and sent over to us.

Thanks and kind regards,

As this thank you is for one of our Tigers themed Mystery Quilts I thought you might like to see which one is it. Can you pick out your block?

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Bev,

This a quick note to say thank you for the laundry bag that you made for me. While I grew up in Melbourne, principally  around Brighton and Sandringham, I spent a lot of my youth in the Victorian High Country, so the theme you choose for the laundry bag resonates quite strongly with me. While Australian service men and women deployed overseas are now more regularly receiving packages of thanks from wonderful people such as yourself,  few contain such personal items.

While many of us service in silent recognition, it is always nice to have someone show their gratitude for the sacrifices that we, and our families make in the service of our great country.

Please accept my heartfelt thanks for the time you take to thank our deployed soldiers, and for my laundry bag.

Regards,

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These next two messages were from the same fellow.  Mother and daughter team Pauline and Elaine sent him a quilt and laundry bag and how nice that he took the time to write to both of them.  

Hi Pauline,

First of all I'd like to thank you very much for the quilt and the laundry bag, it is truly awesome. I have placed the quilt on my bed and use it every night. When I first arrived here it was very cold so the quilt came in very handy. Now it is summer my roommate has the air conditioner set so low, I can't really tell the difference in our room. I liked the photo you sent on your letter, it reminds me of home and spending most of my junior years in North Queensland.  I know Mackay well. I also loved the treats you guys sent and put them to good use, they were delicious. Everything seems to be very quiet here now for us so that is a good sign that things are looking up for the people of Afghanistan. Hopefully it will not be too long before we can all come home and leave this country in a good state to be able to govern itself. I guess only time will tell.

Thanks again

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Hi Elaine,

Thank you for the quilt and the laundry bag they are great. As your first quilt recipient I can say you have far exceeded my expectations and for that I thank you. It can feel sometimes that the people in Australia have forgotten what we are doing here, but organisations like this help a lot. I do appreciate that you and your mother are behind us and support us.

Speaking with the men and my peers we all feel the same way. I loved the photo attached and I know Mackay quite well. I have lived in North Queensland in Townsville for about 20 years now. My family and I get down to Mackay about once a year to visit family members. I also appreciated the treats you sent and you don't have to worry they didn't spoil my dinner. If you had seen the food we are eating you would understand that nothing could spoil that.   It is already spoilt.

Thanks again

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Hi Joan and Robin,

I wanted to say a very big thank you for my Tiger's themed Laundry bag! It's great and goes along with my quilt great.  Thanks very much to you and all the quilters at Aussie Hero Quilts. Your time, donations and efforts are greatly appreciated by all who receive one of your gifts and it makes a big difference to us knowing we are being thought of and appreciated.

Thanks again

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Dear Jan-Maree and my quilter Deni, 

I very happily received your package about midday yesterday. The box was quite a distraction sitting in my work area as I ploughed through the rest of my day. Although it was Sunday, we work seven days a week here providing command oversight and support to more than a thousand officers, sailors, airmen and airwomen serving across the Middle East and Afghanistan. Contrary to popular media reporting, we still have many servicemen and servicewomen deployed on operations, including over 400 still in Afghanistan.   

When I returned to my room after work I excitedly opened my package and was astounded by your beautiful handiwork and thoughtfulness. I was most impressed by the Australiana of greens and golds and the personalisation of my laundry bag. The quilt reminds me of the bush of home. Although l am a Sydney boy born and bred, I am married to a country Victorian gal and over the years have come to love the unique openness and beauty of our rural regions. Having served in the Army for over twenty years, I have spent a decent time in the scrub and my new 'Yellow' Quilt from the 'Rainbow Series' brings with it comforting memories of my wife, home and happy memories of time in the field. 

I was particularly warmed by Deni's dedication to her three generations of family members who have served in over five different theatres of war. It may be of interest to Deni that I left from Tobruk Barracks Puckapunyal to deploy to the Middle East, a barracks named after the region where your father CPL Gordon served; and we have an Australian warship deployed in the Middle East today conducting anti-piracy operations amongst other tasks as your great grandfather AB Gordon did almost 145 years ago. 

I don't think I'm an Aussie Hero, but I am certainly proud of serving in our nation's Army and being part of a tradition of courage, initiative, respect and teamwork. Your quilt will remain a treasured reminder of my service in the Middle East and a symbol of the valued appreciation of those at home who have us in their thoughts. 

I sincerely thank you both for your thoughtfulness, efforts and the ongoing support of all members of Aussie Hero Quilts  for our deployed serving members. Your vibrant quilts are often cheerful topics of conversation where I am deployed. 

The chocolates were a nice touch too and I will enjoy sharing them with my colleagues at work. 

Kindest regards, 

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Hello Jan-Maree 

Thankyou for the Aussie Hero Quilt I received from you. The  quilt was a design of old world ships, ships which have taken my interest since being on the HMS Endeavour replica many years ago and reading books on the events of the era. Notably being on one for the last two years, it does reflect this deployment and others I have been on well. I very much appreciate the work which has been put into making. I had been thinking of placing an order early in the deployment though never had an idea in mind of what I would like, so choosing one which took me immediately gave me the opportunity to have one. 

Thankyou again, and such endeavours are much appreciated by all. 

Regards

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Dearest Cath & Family, 

Just wanted to take the opportunity to let you know that I have received the quilt and laundry bag you have made in the mail and it is truly amazing! When I opened the parcel I saw the beautiful fabric with space and all the systems and the amount of joy that it brought me is immeasurable. God bless you all for such a wonderful gift. You have provided me with not only physical warmth but spiritual as well by knowing that there are people out in the community that actually care for Australian Defence Force personnel and think about the conditions that we are sometimes forced to endure. Again, thank you for the lovely card that you sent as well, it was fantastic to hear about your five sons, they must be remarkable young men with the worlds best mother! Funnily enough, reading about the cool weather you mentioned brought a smile to my face, I grew up in Melbourne on the outskirts of town and I am really missing cold weather like you would not believe. Everyone thinks that I am a touch crazy because I love cold weather but heat just does not do it for me in the slightest. 

Looking forward to hearing back from you and once again, thank you so much for the most heart warming gift I think I have ever received. 

Yours aye, 

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Hi Jan, 

             I am pleased to tell you that my quilt has arrived safely and am very happy with it and thankyou very much for the hard work that you put into make it for me. I will enjoy using it for the rest of the deployment so I will be making the most of using it before I return home where my 3 young children will use it more then I will get to. 

Once again thankyou. 

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Hey Jo, 

I have received your quilt and I am most impressed. You have done an outstanding job with the quilt and laundry bag.  I tried to upload a photo on my defence email to show you with me in the picture, But unfortunately it did not work for some reason. Thankyou very much for putting in the effort to make the quilt you and all the guys at Aussie Hero Quilts are fantastic and it just gives us a little hope that people at home care for what we are doing up here and it also is a little something that we can keep for a memory of the trip 

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Jenny G, 

I received your quilt the other week and I have to say how appreciative I am for your kindness. I am an avid music lover and I love the colour red, so the quilt is very fitting for me and I think it is absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for your time and efforts in producing something so wonderful for me, it truly brightens our day to receive such gifts from people who support us out here. 

We have just over two months left of our trip until we return to Sydney, and I have to say that everyone is really looking forward to getting home. All the quilts we have received have brought so much joy to us all on board and I think it is an amazing gesture for you to take the time to send these to us. 

Again I thank you muchly for the quilt, I have been using it to curl up with whilst I listen to music or have a quick nap before a night shift. I hope you and your family are well and I wish you all the best. 

Regards,

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Hi Bev, a very big personal thank you from the Sinai Egypt.

I just received a parcel today containing the laundry bag that you have so kindly made for me. Can I assure you that I am very appreciative of the hard work and obvious love that you put in creating this craft work for me. It is so good that I'm not sure if I want to put my dirty laundry into the bag (just yet) but I am very tempted to place it on my bedroom wall at North Camp as a piece of art.

I know I can speak for the other Aussies who have received similar gifts, in that we are very humbled with the work and effort that has gone into producing these bags. Being so far from home and living in the desert, it is so refreshing to have something such as the birds you have sewn onto my bag to remind me of home. I enjoy hiking in the Australian bush and observing bird life, so you were spot on with the bag's theme.

Once again, thank you very much and rest assured that the Service men and women who receive your bags are extremely appreciative.

Kindest regards

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Dear Jan-Maree, 

Yesterday I received my Aussie Hero Quilt in the mail and was very humbled by your letter and the effort your team had put into making such a beautiful quilt. Please pass on my thanks to Lynn and Stephanie.

Off course Jan-Maree, a very big thank you to yourself for personalising my quilt with Black Hawks and the Loadmaster Wing. Your little spy (aka XXXXX) and Coops obviously assisted in providing information. XXXXX was bursting at the seams with trying to withhold  information on the quilt you were making. She said I would be impressed but really, impressed does not do justice to what you and the other ladies have done. What a coincidence that you know Coops and the other Army Chinook boys. I couldn't believe it when I read your letter. Enjoy your holiday in Townsville in June. It is absolutely beautiful this time of year.

The deployment to the Sinai as an Officer and the Adjutant of the Australian Contingent has been a great honour and positive experience that I will never forget. I have been part of a very professional team of servicemen and service women who I can assure you, have done their duty and made the name 'Australian' something we can all be very proud off. 

Jan-Maree, I won't bore you any longer with my waffle but would once again like to say thank you for the quilt and send my best wishes to you and your team at Aussie Hero Quilts.

Kind regards
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Carolyn,
I cannot thank you enough for the smile you put on my face and the pride that I felt when I received my Aussie Hero quilt and laundry bag.
The quilt looks amazing on my rack and all the quilts from AHQ give the mess a great feeling.
Thank you so much for the time and effort that you put into making both pieces for me. They are memento's that I will hold onto for a very long time and I have you to thank for that.
ANZAC Day in Tanzania was unreal, we had Mick Molloy and Red Gum perform for us. We had a dawn service on the flight deck, and watched the various march's on television. There was a great feeling of pride among the men and women on board with me.
Once again Thankyou and I hope this email finds you well.

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And just one thing before I go - Happy Birthday Robin A from all at AHQ!
Thanks for all you do for us!

Till next time....................keep spreading the word and happy stitching! JMxx