Operation Kid Comfort

​The Southeast & Armed Services YMCA has teamed up with our local military community and the National Armed Services YMCA to bring Operation Kid Comfort to this area for children of deployed parents. This program eases the stress of a parent's absence from the home by providing a free photo quilt for children six and under and pillows for children seven and up. Photographs of the deployed parent and family are printed onto fabric. The photos are incorporated into a quilt or pillow. The quilt or pillow is then given to the child to play with, sleep with, or use to comfort them from the grief of missing their deployed parent.

Partnerships & Volunteers

We would like to thank the owners of High Country Quilts who graciously provide space for our Operation Kid Comfort volunteers to conduct their monthly meetings. If you are interested in receiving one of these quilts or pillows, click below to request a quilt or pillow. For more information, contact [email protected].

Quilt and Pillow Request

The Operation Kid Comfort program offers quilts for children ages six and under and pillows for children ages seven to eighteen of deployed servicemen and women.

To receive your FREE quilt, please complete an online application and attach photos that will help your child(ren) cope during their parent's deployment. Every quilt or pillow must have a picture of the deployed spouse or parent in uniform. No pictures of children by themselves, please. Thank you.

In order to be eligible for this program, we will need to confirm deployment status. You can either:

1. Stop by the Southeast Armed Services YMCA on the second and fourth Friday of every month between 4-5 p.m. and present a copy of the deployment orders to the quilter lead on site.

2. Email a copy of the deployment orders to [email protected] Please make sure to black out SSNs for OPSEC.

As all materials and services are donated, there are no fees for this program. Quilts normally take 2-3 months to complete for production. Families will be notified via email when they are completed. They can be picked up on the second and fourth Friday of every month between 4-5 p.m. Any questions, please email [email protected]. Thank you!

Photo Requirements

Please review and select photos you wish to submit prior to completing this form.

  • Be sure to include the child’s first and last name in the photo file.
  • You may send a different set of photos for each child. If you do, please label them as such.
  • Image formats accepted: jpg, jpeg, png, gif and bmp
  • Quilt and pillow requests without submission of photos will be considered incomplete.

File Requirements

  • Larger than 50KB but smaller than 2MB each
  • High-resolution so they can be sized to 8.5 inches
  • Submit 4 photos for a quilt (children 6 and under)
  • Submit 6 photos for pillows (children 7 - 18)

If at all possible, send photos that are in focus.

Photo Content

Please, no photos of children with guns.
If at all possible, please include photos of:

  • the deployed parent alone
  • the deployed parent with the child or children
  • the deployed parent in family pictures
  • the deployed parent in uniform
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ASYMCA/Operation Kid Comfort Release

The Armed Services YMCA is actively pursuing corporate, business and individual support for Operation Kid Comfort and the many other programs we offer. We would appreciate your permission to use photographic images provided for these projects, as well as photographs of the finished quilts and photographs taken at Operation Kid Comfort workshops and events for these purposes. Please read our privacy statement and approve or disapprove the use of your image, the image of your child(ren) and/or your spouse below.

Armed Services YMCA Privacy Policy: We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about you to anyone, except as permitted by law. We restrict access to your personal information to those employees and volunteers who need to know that information to provide products and/or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your nonpublic personal information.

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