![[Contributed images courtesy Antelope Valley Quilt Association. This photo taken by Betty Putzka at a quilt presentation Nov. 10 at Crazy Otto's.]](https://www.theavtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Quilt-donation-to-veterans-1.jpg)
![[Photo by Betty Putzka]](https://www.theavtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Quilt-donation-to-veterans-2.jpg)
LANCASTER – Nearly three dozen local veterans from all branches of service were gifted with patriotic quilts this year from the Antelope Valley Quilt Association (AVQA).
It’s been a tradition for several years, according to Betty Putzka, chairman of AVQA’s Veterans Philanthropic committee.
Putzka said she received a call in 2008 from the Southern California coordinator of Quilts of Valor, and was asked to present a quilt to a local veteran.
That year, the group sent quilts to a Veterans Hospital in the Los Angeles area, Putzka said.
“We started sending them to Landstuhl Hospital in Germany for the wounded from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars,” Putzka said. “More recently we have been giving to our local veterans of the Vietnam, WWII and Korean wars.”
To sew this year’s patriotic quilts, 10 to 15 quilters met monthly at Bolts in the Bathtub, a local quilt shop in Lancaster.
“We do this quilt making to show our appreciation of the sacrifices made for us by our servicemen and women. We want them to know their service is appreciated,” Putzka stated. “Our donations are small compared to what they have been through.”