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Good grief!
Local Project Linus group hits 10,000 blanket milestone
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES
Carolyn Shamblen of La Plata, above, folds blankets that will be donated. Each Project Linus blanket gets a tag, right, sewn onto it before it is given to a child in need.
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When 3-year-old Kenzie Krassa wound up in the hospital suffering an allergic reaction to a cookie that contained peanuts, there was little to comfort her.
Then a nurse gave the toddler a handmade blanket crafted by Avis Minott, a member of the Charles County chapter of Project Linus.
It is something Kenzie continues to cherish, according to her mother, Deanna Krassa.
"She calls it her ‘hospital blanket.' For a child, a blanket is security," said Krassa, who has another daughter, Kadie, 16 months.
Providing a measure of security for children who are ill, injured or victims of a trauma or disaster is the mission of Project Linus, a national organization founded in 1995 by Colorado resident Karen Loucks. Since then, the organization has distributed more than 2 million blankets and spawned 406 chapters.
The Charles County chapter formed in 2004, two years after coordinator Mary
Hancock joined the Southern Maryland chapter based in Lusby.
As of December 2008, the Charles chapter has donated more than 10,000 blankets and is on track to give away another 10,000 sooner rather than later.
"It took us four years to get to 5, 000," Hancock said. "It took us two years to get to 10,000."
Recently, the chapter celebrated the 10,000 blanket milestone with a luncheon at the Waldorf Jaycees Community Center, complete with entertainment by a barbershop quartet.
With donations coming from Girl Scout troops, the Blanketeers — a group of crafters that meets at the Richard R. Clark Senior Center in La Plata, church groups, individuals and core members of the group, the chapter has about 150 to 200 members, Hancock estimated.
Some groups are prolific.
"The Clark center is whipping through blankets now," she said, adding that another member makes a once-a-year donation of about 25 blankets during a service day in February when chapters get together to make blankets for the organization.
Most of the time members work on projects at home and drop them off at one of the donation stations set up in the county — one is at A.C. Moore craft shop in Waldorf, another at the Hair Gallery in Bryans Road and one at the Clark center.
Once the blankets are collected — Hancock figures the group collects about 125 a month — Project Linus tags are sewn onto each and tagged with the crafter's name.
Some blankets that are anonymously donated are a marvel of time, work and imagination.
Rarely do group members meet the recipients of their work. Thank-you letters might come in, along with a photo or two.
Several of the group's members have a scrapbook nestled in their sewing bags — albums containing notes and pictures, letters and crayon-scrawled thank you notes.
Not that these crafters do what they do for accolades.
"I've got to do something with my hands," said Dee Watson, a grandmother from Brandywine, who estimates she makes about 100 blankets a year for Project Linus. "I love material and there is only so much I can make for myself."
Quilts, crochet, fleece – almost any comfy material is used by the project's members.
Tasked with creating blankets for children from infant to 17, the patterns vary.
Annette Good of Swan Point has been on a roll making "taggies" small infant blankets featuring various materialsand textured strips of cloth that babies can thumb.
Betty Delman of St. Mary's County started out making "cheater" quilts which already had a design on the fabric.
"Now," she said, "I make my own."
"The more fabrics you pick up and do, the more you want to create," said Watson, who knows of no sweeter sound than that of a whirling sewing machine. "It's our hobby."
"Other people can have golf,"
Delman laughed.
Carolyn Shamblen of La Plata coordinates the Clark center group.
She said that about 10 regulars can be counted on to cram into the "sewing room" at the center each Friday.
She has no real explanation as to why the center's members complete so many blankets for the group.
"We're not trying to beat any numbers," she said. "It just happens."
Anne Scott, a Blanketeer member (on a national level, Project Linus contributors are called "blanketeers" as well) said working with material, tying knots and putting together blankets is good for her arthritis. She also said it gives her something to do so that she doesn't fall asleep in front of the television.
The blankets are donated to a number of organizations and businesses around the county including funeral homes, the health department, Children's Aid Society, Charles County Sheriff's Office, Safe Nights, Civista Medical Center and other hospitals.
Hancock said that blankets made in Charles County stay in the county for the most part, but have also been donated to children affected by the Columbine High School shootings, Hurricane Katrina and other tragedies.
Overwhelmed Project Linus coordinators in affected areas put out a call for chapters to pitch in, and it is never a disappointing turnout.
The members of Project Linus almost get as much out of making the blankets as those who eventually find comfort in them.
"I like to touch fabric. Fabric people are just addicted to it," Shamblen said of making blankets. "It's the one talent that I have, and I need to use it."
