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Project LinuFort Wayne / Northeast Indiana Chapter |
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Our blankets make a difference. |
It's within your power to make a difference. |
I had a young lady appear at my doorstep today and wanted to share something with me. If some of you remember I received a real initiation into Project Linus almost 5 years ago when, just a couple weeks after being named coordinator we had the shootings in Red Lake and other coordinators blessed me with 761 blankets to pass out at the school. When we distributed them I laid them all out and each young person selected the one they wanted. There was one that was a beautiful pink color with hearts and the words Jesus Loves me all over it. I was too green to know we weren't supposed to pass out religious blankets and someone had sent it to me so I laid it out with the rest. This young lady shared with me that previous to the tragedy she had been placed in a group home and was so belligerent that they would not keep her--plus her family and friends kept smuggling in drugs and cigarettes to her. She was at home and still leading a life that kept getting her in trouble and everyone had given up on her. One night she was all alone at home and all of a sudden realized that the only one that had told her she was loved in years was her blanket. She then decided to turn her life around and this spring will be graduating from college. She is so proud because a very small percentage of the young people from the reservation pursue and accomplish that goal. She was also excited to tell me she was going into Social Work so she could help some other young people as her blanket helped her by telling them she cared about them. She thanked me, gave me a hug and then burst into tears. I just held her because I actually didn't know what she was feeling. When she composed herself she apologized and then said, "Those were tears of total joy and thankfulness for what has happened in my life. I am now a healed person with a goal in life of something other than destruction."
I have to admit that when she left I was the one in tears--just to think that a PL Blanket carried that much influence over this young lady. We DO make a difference and we never know what the "hug" will mean to a child. I feel we saved a young woman from destroying her life with that one gesture.
Jonette Anderson
Northern MN
Project Linus' local chapter making 200 for kids hit by Haiti quake
Blankets have ‘love stitched in.' - By Deb Todd for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel - Feb. 3, 2010From left, Deb Heath, Pauline Sobona, Avery Greider, 7, her grandmother, Nancy Love, and Diana Fisher help make blankets at the Project Linus chapter house on Lake Avenue. The chapter plans to make and ship 200 blankets by March 1 for children affected by the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. The national organization has received requests for more than 20,000 blankets. Photo by Deb Todd for The News-Sentinel“We can do no great things; only small things with great love.”
— Mother Teresa of Calcutta
The blanketeers of the Fort Wayne/Northeast Indiana Chapter of Project Linus have taken Mother Teresa's philosophy to heart.
While most of their previous projects have focused on making blankets for children in the United States, they now are hurrying to make blankets for children affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti.
“We have shipped blankets to Hurricane Katrina victims, Fort Hood, Snowball Express (a charity for the children of fallen military heroes) ...” said Peggy Albertson, local chapter coordinator. “We also aid local schools by providing blankets for grief counseling when they lose a student.”
In all, local chapter members have made and donated more than 18,000 new blankets in the past six years.
The beginning
Project Linus began nationally in 1995 with the simple mission of providing something tangible to comfort children in crisis. Named for a blanket-carrying character in the late Charles M. Schulz's “Peanuts” comic strip, the organization has expanded to more than 400 chapters nationwide, with donations totaling more than 3 million blankets.
Albertson “felt a tug at my heart” to start a chapter here, she said. She received authorization April 15, 2004.
Request for Haiti's children
Avery Grider helps her grandmother, Nancy Love, roll and tie blankets for shipment. The local Project Linus chapter welcomes new volunteers – and they don't need to sew. Deb Todd for The News-Sentinel
After the devastating earthquake hit Haiti on Jan. 12, word of the need for blankets came Jan. 21 in an e-mail from national Project Linus headquarters to chapter coordinators.
“We knew the request would come,” wrote Mary Balagna, Project Linus vice president. “Here's the scoop: We have an urgent need for 10,000 blankets for the children in Haiti. ... People all across the country are turning to Project Linus ... to make blankets for the children affected by this horrible earthquake.”
The Heart to Heart International organization requested 10,000 blankets by March 1, said Albertson. The e-mail from Project Linus headquarters generated commitments for all 10,000 blankets in less than 24 hours.
Within days, another request arrived from Christian Aid Ministries for an additional 10,000 blankets. Blanketeers across the nation responded immediately, and the local chapter began stitching, rolling finished blankets and packing them for shipment.
World Vision also requested blankets to comfort orphaned children, both those arriving in Miami and those remaining in Haiti. Members from Project Linus chapters in Florida are meeting children at the airport, personally enveloping them in a “welcoming blanket hug.”
So far, local Project Linus members have committed to making and shipping a total of 200 blankets. They expect requests for additional blankets in the near future and are planning accordingly.
Albertson isn't surprised by the outpouring of support, both locally and nationally.
“Project Linus is one of the most giving and caring organizations I know,” she said. “Anytime we receive a request from HQ or another chapter experiencing a crisis in their community, we all work together to fill that need.”
‘Love stitched into them'
“Our blankets come from the heart,” Albertson said. “Anyone can go buy a blanket, but ours have love stitched right into them.”
New handmade blankets reduce risks to children's health by eliminating exposure to contaminants such as smoke, pet hair or mold. “New is fresh, clean, original,” she said.
Blankets of different sizes, styles and materials – some pieced or quilted, others knitted or crocheted – line shelves and spill out of boxes in the local chapter house. Children from infants to age 18 are the recipients, so blankets are colorful, kid-friendly and washable.
The blankets send an important message to children.
“Love, comfort and a sense of security,” Albertson said. “(It's) something they can wrap themselves in like a cocoon to feel safe and warm, to know someone cares about them.”
Anyone can help
The Haiti blanket drive and ongoing needs in the local community have challenged the local chapter.
While they gladly accept donations of new, handmade blankets, there are other ways to help. Monetary donations to defray shipping and printing costs, shipping materials, packing tape and donations of fabric, thread, rotary cutter blades and batting are gratefully accepted.
Sewing skills are not required. “(Volunteers) can tie on tags, tie quilts, help with laundry, shovel the snow, clean machines ... . If they are breathing, we can find something useful for them to do,” Albertson said.
While Project Linus benefits the blanket recipient, it also affects the blanketeer.
“When we get (thank-yous) and hear the stories, our hearts melt, and we are energized all over again,” Albertson said.
If you have a story, please share.
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PROJECT
LINUS FORT WAYNE / NORTHEAST INDIANA CHAPTER |
