Two Families, One Heart: A Tribute to a Veteran’s Service
When USMC veteran Ross Bridges walked into the Welcome Home facility, he was expecting to give his parents a tour. They had been donors for years but had never actually seen the shelter where Ross has served as a board member for over a decade.
“We’d like to take a tour,” they had told him, setting up what Ross thought was a routine afternoon.
Instead of a tour, Ross was greeted by a powerful, unexpected sight. Standing with his mother and father was a crowd that included Welcome Home board members, employees, and staff—his entire Welcome Home family.
Ross described his initial shock: “I walked in the door and there were all these people standing there with my parents and I was just, ‘What’s this about?'” It was a total surprise, orchestrated by his wife, Natalie, and the facility team.
The reason for the gathering was tearfully revealed by his mother, Nancy: Ross was being honored with a Quilt of Valor, a handmade quilt awarded to a Service Member or Veteran who has been touched by war. The quilt is a physical embodiment of a thank you for your service to our country.
For Nancy, creating this quilt was a deeply personal way to express the enduring pride she felt when her son joined the Marines shortly after the 9/11 attacks. In the shadow of a nation suddenly united by grief and uncertainty, she felt a profound mix of fear and patriotism.
“It was not long after 9/11 that he joined the Marines,” Nancy recalled. “I was very frightened at the time because a mother never wants her son in harm’s way. At the same time, I could not have been more proud of him.” Participating in making her son’s Quilt of Valor was her way of showing how proud she is of his service to our country and defending our freedom.
The project became a cherished family effort, tying together generations through Nancy’s love of quilting. Ross’s daughters, Elleanor and Margot, joined their grandmother to create the quilt top, cutting and sewing the pieces into a striking pattern of red, white, and blue stars and stripes. Nancy felt this was a crucial way for the girls to “get involved and become aware and appreciate what their dad did for them and for our country.” The finished quilt was then painstakingly hand-stitched by a group of retired ladies, the “Golden Age Club,” making it a unique, month-long labor of love.
The surprise presentation carried immense significance for Ross, both as a veteran and a father. He recalls returning from his tour in Iraq, struggling to reintegrate into civilian life, but credits his family with providing him the strength he needed to power through not only for himself but also for his family. This powerful experience fueled his dedication to Welcome Home:
“My family did just a wonderful job of just loving me, supporting me through it without…trying to change me, and] you know, kind of just being there. And why I continue to serve at Welcome Home is that most of the individuals that come through Welcome Home, they don’t have that. So, when they hit a struggle, they don’t have a strong support group, family or friends to help them see it through. And so I just feel kind of compelled to try to be a part of that for them.”
To be celebrated by both his biological family and the Welcome Home family he serves was overwhelming.
For Ross, the true gift of the day was seeing the two groups merge: “It was just neat seeing, you know, my parents, my actual family, paired up with my Welcome Home family coming together for the first time in celebration of me.”
The moment stood out to him because, even though his parents were coming up anyway, the Welcome Home staff “all waited around to surprise me… That was just a big thing and stood out to me, and I felt really appreciated by that.”
Reflecting on the love shown by everyone present, Ross offered a final message: “I want to extend a heartfelt thank you for the love.”