Good day friends!

                                                            How are is week treating you all?  

                                                 Check out this weeks’ notes, gorgeous as always!                                 

                                                    I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

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Dear Bobbie,

I just wanted to thank you for the laundry bag, you absolutely made my day and I love the laundry bag.

    I really appreciate you telling me your story and where you live sounds beautiful. I live in NSW and hoping to move closer to Queensland. I hope you are not being affected to much from the lockdowns I have heard Australia are currently in.

Defence life is so hard but very rewarding.

The laundry bag was very creative and makes going to do the laundry that bit more enjoyable and now I can always find my laundry bag with the beautiful design you have made.

I’m currently in the Middle East and there is heaps to do here, so I apologise this thank you letter has taken me a while to write back and send out. 

Keep doing what you do as it’s little things like this that make our day, and proud of hat we do.

Kind Regards

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Good Morning Ellen,

I am an aircraft technician from the Airforce, based in NSW, approaching 10 years service. Most of my time was spent in the Army prior to my service transfer, when my daughter was born a few years back.

Currently, I am supporting Domestic Operations in Sydney. This deployment differs greatly from my previous, but it has unique challenges for sure. Being just 2 hours away from my wife and daughter is tough, particularly on the slower days. We didn’t have to worry about too many slow days in Middle East.

On behalf of every lucky recipient, thank you for the laundry bag. It is such a sweet thing you do and it doesn’t matter the day we’ve had, when we get a little hand made, practical gift such as the laundry bag, our day is going to be brighter!

Thank you

  ….

Hi there,

I just wanted to reach out and say thanks to your organisation for my laundry bag. It arrived in theatre about Mid August. I got a chance to send a thank you to Raelyne, but the Middle East NEO kicked off before I could say thank you to the Aussie Hero Quilts team too.

It is a spectacular bag and thoroughly used!

Though, I’ve still got a few months left here, it was the pick me up I needed to get through, and it’s a great bonus Raelyne called me a superhero in her card. I’ve been riding that high for the last few months!

I am incredibly grateful to your organisation, we all appreciate the incredible efforts you go to for us out here.

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Dear Helen and Pat,

I hope you are both well. I just wanted to extend my enormous thanks for the amazing quilt that you have made for me. The pattern is beautiful and I already use the quilt every night as a light layer of warmth whenever it gets a bit cool during the night.

A little bit about myself. I joined the RAN in 2020 and am on my first sea posting. I have family members who have served in the RAAF and Royal Navy, but I am the first of my family to join the Australian Navy. The pandemic did impact the start of my time in the ADF, however, it has nonetheless been an incredible experience. I remember watching stories on the news about ADF members receiving Aussie Hero Quilts, and I feel honoured to now be one of those members.

As someone whose mother and grandmother both spend much of their spare time knitting and making their own quilts, blankets and pillow cases, I can appreciate the immense amount of time and effort that goes into making just one of these gifts, and it was great to receive it while on the ship.

Once again, thank you so much for the quilt. I hope that you both are faring well in the current pandemic situation and that things will start returning to normal for you soon enough.

Kind Regards.

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Good Morning Pam,

I am extremely excited to say that I have received my quilt and am absolutely in love with it.

I will send an email to Heather soon and give her all my thanks.

Thank you very much.

I am very much in love with my quilt.

Kindest Regards

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Hello and thank you Anne,

The quilt was exactly what I wanted but so much more. I have had many comments. Honestly, after my long days at work and months this quilt still brings tears to my eyes and smile to my face. I am unsure if you will ever truly know how much the quilts and laundry bags mean to the deployed members. Sometimes it may be the only package they receive whilst on their trip. I have been fortunate enough to witness the joy these bring to lots of people.

This has been one of the highest tempo and challenging deployments I have done. I am currently running the medical centre, the internal and external task, managing the staffing, liaising frequently with coalition forces and recently had to fly away to assist with the AFG NEO task. There have been many more things but that is a quick summary. I am currently fulfilling 3 positions, so you could imagine it is keeping me very busy. So going into my room and seeing my bed with those colours truly brightened my day. Due to things that have occurred recently I have had to move into my office to live (many people have) and I still have that quilt out and it still places a smile on my dial. You have done extremely well with all the teal and purple. You are a magnificent and creative lady. I can’t wait to have kids and be able to share my story with them and they can cherish my quilt as much as I do.

I have been a medic and nurse for 16 years. Deployed multiple times. I am a full time Military Medic and hold a couple of jobs on the outside. I am also a qualified Scrub/Scout. I have one dog now, I sadly had to put my other girl down.

Thank you for sharing your story with me. I hope you are staying healthy and your family are safe. I hope COVID hasn’t affected your time with your loved ones.

I am still deployed for a bit, and I hope the tempo will decrease but I don’t forsee this happening. I am looking forward to quarantine and I am manifesting to be in hotels or at home within QLD.

Truly thanking you and I will forever cherish this quilt.

 ….

Good Afternoon Sonia,

Thank you very much for the awesome laundry bag and letter. Me and my mates went through a large pile after being told we could take one home, and I didn’t hesitate to choose yours out of the lot. 

I love the design and appreciate your selfless work.

It certainly brightened my day reading your letter and reminded that my mates and I are appreciated by people like you.

I will put the laundry bag to good use, I hope you and your family are well.

All the best.

 ….

From the Facebook Page:

Thank you for my laundry bag I received today, while deployed with the Army on border protection operations. 

The letter as just as appreciated as the bag. 

Thank you

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Hey Pennie,

I just received your laundry bag. 

Thank you very much, it’s a lot better than storing my dirty clothes in a rubbish bag. I hope all is well at home and you are getting some more sewing time.

Regards.

….

Dear Ellen,

I’m the grateful new owner of your laundry bag. I chose it because it’s lovely bright colours are cheering and the race cars pictured are so futuristic they could almost be spaceships. I read science fiction novels in my spare time to imaginatively experience alternate worlds and it’s nice to have one of these on the bag I’ve just used for the first time this morning when washing my uniforms (which wouldn’t have  fitted into the woolies bag I’d brought with me on deployment).

I am a 57 year old Reservist Flight Lieutenant who joined in 2005 to be a public affairs officer for the Air Force. Public affairs is a mixture of roles ranging from traditional journalism to events management and public relations. My civilian career started at 19, with a cadetship on a country newspaper in Victoria. I grew up in Victoria and returned there to work at suburban newspapers and The Age and Herald Sun as well as ABC Radio News. For the past 20+ years, Queensland has been home.

I’ve been lucky to be able to combine my journalism career with study and now hold five degrees in Arts, Law and Science including a Masters and PhD and prior to joining the RAAF I worked as a Journalism Lecturer. So I really enjoy the traditional journalism aspects of the Defence work – getting out and meeting an enormous variety of talented, dedicated people and  telling their stories.

I also love to travel and enjoyed reading your letter. 

Although I’ve travelled around Australian Air Force bases to help publicise exercises, air shows and other events, Operation COVID Assist is my first operational deployment with the ADF. 

For the next few months I’ll be based in NSW with it’s heritage listed buildings and sweeping grounds, visiting troops from all three services whose work is helping keep Australia safe in quarantine hotels, vaccination hubs, on the streets and contact tracing call centres. On Thursday, I interviewed a young refugee, now an Aircraftswoman or ACW, who has been working as a translator for the people who fled the Middle East recently. A job which is close to home for her since her father was killed by Taliban when she was two years old. It was inspiring to hear about her work.

Once again, thank you so much for your beautiful and very practical gift. It raised my spirits to know that you appreciate our work and took the time and care to craft something that will stay with me throughout my Air Force career.

Best wishes

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Dear Toni,

I hope you are well today. I just wanted to extend my enormous thanks to you for the beautiful laundry bag you have made for me. I love your use of colours and it was great to see the unique spin you put on the design and fabrics. As someone who grew up spending most of the time playing drums and guitar, I particularly enjoyed seeing the musical notation in the design.

A little about myself, I joined the RAN in 2021 and am now on my first sea posting. I have family members who have served in the RAAF and Royal Navy, but I am the first to join the Australian Navy. While the pandemic did influence the start of my career in the Navy in some strange ways, it has still been all round an incredible experience. I remember seeing stories on the news about members of the ADF receiving quilts and laundry bags from Aussie Heroes, and it is amazing to think that I have also received one of these great gifts.

Both my mother and grandmother spend much of their free time making their own personal quilts, bags and pillow cases using various designs and fabrics, so I can appreciate the incredible time and effort that goes into making just one of these gifts. The number of laundry bags you have made for other ADF members is astounding.

Once again, thank you so much for the laundry bag. It is wonderful gift to have received while on the ship and has definitely livened up my living space. I hope you and your family are faring well in the current pandemic and that things will return to normal soon enough.

Kind Regards

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Dear Jan-Maree and Clarissa,

I thank you for the laundry bags that arrived today. The Paw Patrol, Winnie the Pooh and others were great and there will be someone who will love the flamingos. 

Thanks for all you continue to do.

You and your team must be so weary – all those bags sewn and the demand still continues for more. The plan is to complete this op at the end of the month, but being a realist, once the borders open up, the demand for Police and ADF services is likely to continue for some time yet.

God Bless and keep you. You are my Aussie Heroes.

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Good Evening Deirdre,

By way of introduction, I received my quilt today through the Defence mailing system.

I would just like to say straight away, I love it! I had multiple ideas going through my head as to what it might look like, but I think your design has gone far beyond what I could have imagined. It is popular amongst my friend group as well.

There is no need to apologies in any way for the map as you have stated in your letter. I have studied a Bachelor degree in History, so am probably the perfect person to receive this map. I really do prefer the style with geopolitical names over pictures of animals, so you have absolutely nailed this.

I have been to both the pyramids and Taj Mahal (within the last 3 years in fact). Two of my favourite locations, so great choices there.

A little about myself, as you have so kindly introduced yourself to me:

I was born in Victoria, but raised in a small country town in NSW. I attended university in ACT through Defence and at the end of this year, will have completed 11 years. This is my first overseas extended deployment, however, I have worked in Asia for language studies, and travelled around Australia on numerous occasions with changing roles. I currently live in Northern Territory, but am 50/50 on remaining in NT or posting to South Australia next year, a decision I must make in the next few days.

I have a few months remaining in the Middle East.

Once again, a massive thank you for my quilt. It is perfect. I hope you are well, and that your family remains safe during these difficult times.

Regards

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Hope you enjoyed this week’s notes, and have a safe and happy week!

Alex