Linda organizes seamstresses in a ten state region for Sew Much Comfort, a non profit organization dedicated to adapting clothing for injured soldiers. "We have over 500 seamstresses and we're in all 50 states and in Europe," she explained. "Most of us sew at home."

The group started in December 2004, when a mother and son in Ohio realized that soldiers are only issued hospital gowns and regular uniforms during their recovery. Four years ago Linda saw a story about the group in a sewing magazine and knew she wanted to help. "Having adaptive clothing isn't mandatory to their healing process of their recovery, but a hospital gown is open in the back. These are very proud young men and women and they don't like their backside hanging out. It's not very dignified."

Sew Much Comfort stitches Velcro into the seams of boxer shorts, pants, shirts and even uniforms, so that even soldiers recovering from significant injuries can dress themselves. "When you're in the hospital, if you think about having a large leg cast on, it's really hard to put pants on."

Linda says that the adapted clothing allows soldiers to get out of bed and into rehabilitation sooner. "It makes them feel normal. It gets them back into society quicker. It gets them back into the real world and back to work."

She continued, "All of us do this because we have a great respect for what they have done. It just touches your heart when you find out that you've been able to accommodate a few of these individuals and help them just a little bit."

As a regional coordinator, Linda not only helps to recruit and network with seamstresses, but one of the volunteers, Billie Jean Smith, says she also provides the women with patterns and the materials they need. "To begin with she spent so much money of her own. She would buy the bias tape and that was expensive. She would buy the Velcro and that was expensive. The cloth warehouse closed down so she bought all the bolts of fabric that were appropriate to make things out of and she did that with her own money."

Since making these soldiers feel as normal as possible is the goal, Linda makes sure the items she purchases match what they'd usually wear. "Most of them would prefer to have the sports, the college and the pro sports, NASCAR is really big so. We try to accommodate the fabrics based on that they're in their young 20's and what works well for them."

She also ensures that the patterns match the physical and medical needs of the servicemen and women. "The patterns were designed by working with the staff at the hospitals and working with the wounded themselves and finding out what worked best for them."

Linda and her group ship about 2,000 pieces of clothing every week and their work hasn't gone unnoticed. In August 2006, Linda and some of the other leaders of Sew Much Comfort were invited to the Pentagon to receive an award from the military. During their time in Washington, D.C., they were invited to visit Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit some of the wounded soldiers who had received their clothing.

"It was just unbelievable. We thought it was going to be sad and that everyone would be crying, but it wasn't at all," Linda said. "It was so uplifting. These young men were so thrilled to have clothing, so they can take off the hospital gown and get out of bed."

She continued, "One of the individuals we saw had a cast on one leg and a brace on the other. He was flat on his back and said, 'I haven't had underwear on since this happened. So this is wonderful, I can actually put my own underwear on now… and get up and get out of bed."

If you know how to sew and would like to help, CLICK HERE. Sew Much Comfort is always looking for experienced seamstresses and even holds a sewing gathering once a month at the Sew Fresh Studio in Niwot.

Please join 9NEWS and Regis University in congratulating Linda Trumble, the January 2008 9Who Care Award winner.