By Mandy McFarland Enquirer Coordinator
BREMEN — Imagine a soldier overseas, wounded and in a hospital thousands of miles from anything familiar. One day the soldier receives a care package containing a list of necessities, nestled among a quilt, handmade out of squares of denim, and on the squares are messages of thanks or encouragement from students in the U.S. of all grade levels.
Through a Michigan-based project titled “Operation Quiet Comfort,” this scene plays out frequently in military hospitals around the world.

Wednesday morning, Bremen Elementary third-graders had their chance to show their support for Armed Forces men and women stationed throughout the world by creating squares for one of the organization’s “Four Freedoms Gratitude Quilts.” Made of squares cut from blue jeans, the quilts contain handwritten messages from individuals throughout the United States. The squares are shipped to LaSalle, Mich., where they are assembled and sent overseas. The quilts are created anonymously, and one quilt may contain squares from dozens of locations throughout the United States.
“Operation: Quiet Com-fort” is not just about quilts, however. They also assemble “Go Bags,” small backpacks filled with necessities and comfort items, ranging from grooming kits and stationary to CDs, a CD player and extra batteries, puzzle books, reading material, letters of encouragement and more.
OQC also provides clothing and shoes for the wounded, whose clothes often need to be cut away so medics can treat their injuries. Other gifts the OQC staff frequently sends out include things like coffee, snacks and more.
Jan Houin, who co-founded the program and has several family members who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, traveled to Bremen Wednesday to explain the project to the third graders. Houin’s sister-in-law, Diane Houin, is one of the teachers for that grade and looked forward to having her students participate.
“We’re trying to encourage the students to appreciate the vets and what the vets have done for our freedom and appreciate their service to our country,” she said.
Annie Heiter, a student in Houin’s class, explained that they are studying a book about Veterans Day, and that the project fits well with what they have learned.
“It’s fun, because we get to learn more about veterans,” she said.
The Bremen students’ squares will be added to quilts in progress and will be shipped to places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany and anywhere else American soldiers are stationed.
More information on Operation Quiet Comfort, including how community members can become involved, is available at www.operationquietcomfort.com.