A crowd of people gathered at The Meadows in Swift Current over the weekend, providing warmth to many in attendance.

Quilts of Valor and the Southwest Quilters Guild came together for a group presentation in which 63 quilts were given out.

Quilts of Valor, focused on providing military veterans with the blankets, while the Southwest Quilters Guild donated quilts to residents of The Meadows.

Outside donations of quilts for the veterans were accepted, but the Quilts of Valor group also created some of the projects themselves. Each one has a label on the back with a name and a thank you for their service.

Marcie Erick, regional coordinator for Quilts of Valor Canada, said she was taken back by some of the reactions of veterans.

"I had no idea when I started with Quilts of Valor, the intense emotion that would come along with it, I wasn't prepared for that. They are very well received," she continued. "These men and women deserve all the recognition that I can give them."

Erick was present at the event, and personally handed off the blankets to the seven Quilts of Valor recipients present at The Meadows.

Among the crowd of around 60 people in attendance at the event, World War Two veterans were at the ceremony.

The remaining 56 quilts were lap quilts created for those in wheelchairs.

Cecilia Mulhern, the project coordinator for the Southwest Quilters Guild, said that they went above and beyond the project's goal.

"When we started out with our project for lap quilts for The Meadows in fall, I had optimistically asked the group that perhaps we could reach a goal of 30 quilts, and today I was able to present Renee Hovdestead [a health services managers at The Meadows] with 56 quilts."

Quilts given away at the reception at The Meadows were created, in part, at that facility, something that Hovdestead said provided mutual benefit.

"It basically provides the residents with a normal activity. They can come and talk to people that are still living in their own homes. I think lots of times people get into an institution, and they are institutionalized, and don't have any connection with people living on the outside unless they have families that come on a regular basis."

Back in November, Quilts of Valor was recognized for the work they do with veterans at Swift Current City Council.