Volunteers at W&I Resort make Christmas Stockings, and not just during December. They make these stockings all year long. Their project supports the USO-San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston. During the season, or at least December through March, volunteers get together with stocking templates and get to sewing the stockings.

They have a couple of different templates and set up an assembly line. There are cutters and sewers along the line, and then those that tidy up the edges making sure it’s a nice, finished product. Many participants don’t return until after January 1.

Linda Luthi at W&I said they started this project in 2012. They have provided over 3,500 stockings over the years with their first year being a modest 75. They have increased a little more each year. Last year between December 2023 and March 2024, they made 530 stockings. The way things look right now, the group will probably have about 400 or more stockings to donate come March.

The stockings they are making right now are intended for Christmas 2025. They leave these stockings at the Warrior and Family Support Center in March on our way home to Minnesota, said Luthi. Once the center receives the stockings, other groups supporting the USO-San Antonio provide the treats that fill them.

Luthi said she learned about the support center through her Minnesota Quilts of Valor group that would take quilts to Fort Sam Houston (about 700 of them). At that time, soldiers from Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom were being sent to Ft. Sam Houston for medical treatments (Brooke’s Medical Center).

For several years, the group was presented a certificate of appreciation and challenge coins by one of the Warrior and Family Support Center managers. Receiving a Challenge Coin is a great honor, she said. It signifies that the recipient has played a special role, making a significant impact on their peers and the organization as a whole.

“I had a friend that had a pattern and process to make the stockings,” she said. “I presented the option to do a service/community-based project for our park and people here got on board with the idea.”

The group had a great sewing day last week before heading to take some time off for the holidays. Luthi said their count so far is 118 stockings. As well as 50 to 60 more in the process.

The group gets donations of materials, participants bring their own they have gathered, and they get to work when they arrive in the Valley. The people of the park really support the project, Luthi said. No scrap piece goes unused, though. She said the scraps are put into clean pillowcases they get at Ropa Usada. They make pet beds out of them for the His Hands Mission.

Although they never get to meet those that receive the stockings, the group did organize a bus trip to Ft. Sam Houston and the Warrior Family Support Center a few years ago. They had a chance to visit the facility and see where their hard work goes.

The Warrior Family Support Center is a facility that offers an array of services and programs in a supportive home-like setting. The facility includes a classroom, a theater room, living room, a communal kitchen, dining area, gardens, and more. It was created expressly to heal heroes and their families. Their website says, from the moment they (a soldier) walk through the door, these warriors and their families know that the center will provide them with the warm and caring support they need as they continue their journey toward a full and rewarding life.

If you want to learn more about the center, you can visit https://sanantonio.uso.org/san-antonio-warriorcenter.

Luthi said she would be more than happy to show another park how they run their project so the park can choose their own project or group to support. She would welcome any group to visit the park on a sewing day and see what they can learn from them. They meet almost every Wednesday between 12:30 and 3 p.m. You can contact Luthi at 2much2sew@gmail.com.

Luthi expressed her sincere thanks for those that help throughout the season – from cutting, to sewing, to packing and delivering, and donating their time and the materials.