Project Linus offers comfort, blanket to children of soldiers
War is a frightening time for everyone, but perhaps more so for the children of servicemen and servicewomen who have been deployed. With that in mind, Project Linus, a national organization with a local chapter, is hoping to console those children whose parents have been injured, killed or taken prisoners of war. They are offering the gift of a blanket.
“It’s to provide comfort to their children,’ explained Chelle Adams of Point Marion, who is Project Linus coordinator for southwestern Pennsylvania and north central West Virginia.
Project Linus is a national, non-profit organization that provides blankets to traumatized or seriously ill children. Named for the popular Peanuts character who seldom left his security blanket behind, Project Linus is 100 percent volunteer. Even the people who operate the headquarters in Bloomington, Ill., are volunteers, noted Adams, who started the local chapter in September 1998.
Project Linus started in 1995 when a Colorado woman read a Parade magazine story about a girl who had been going through intensive chemotherapy and said her security blanket helped her get through these treatments. Karen Loucks decided to provide homemade security blankets to Denver’s Rocky Mountain Children’s Cancer Center.
Since then, the organization has expanded across the United States to include more than 300 chapters that provide blankets to children through age 17.
“I’m surprised how much the big boys want them,’ said Adams, who regularly delivers blankets to hospitals and other organizations. “They really find comfort in them.’
Project Linus blankets have been received around the world. Chapters have sent them sent to children affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and children in Afghanistan as well as the sister and brothers of missing Colorado child Elizabeth Smart. There was also a blanket left at Elizabeth’s home ready for her return.
Locally, the Southwestern Pennsylvania and North Central West Virginia Chapter provide blankets to a number of local organizations, including Women, Infants and Children, Bridge House, Fayette County Children and Youth, Head Start, New Horizons, City Mission’s women’s home and the Crime Victims Center, all in Fayette County.
“Most of my blankets come from Fayette and Monongalia counties and that’s where most of them go,’ said Adams, a knitter who learned the craft from her grandmother when she was 4.
In a few short years, the chapter has made an impact.
“We’ve done 5,800 blankets so far for our chapter,’ said Adams. “We delivered our 5,000th blanket on Jan. 23.’
The chapter started with five people and now has more than 350 volunteers, called blanketeers. They make and donate blankets that include quilts, tied comforters, fleece blankets, crocheted or knitted afghans and receiving blankets. Adams also has a pattern for a no-sew blanket that can be cut from fleece.
“Anyone can make the no-sew blankets. My 5-year-old makes them. Football players and fraternity guys make them. All you need is fleece,’ said Adams.
Volunteers have a lot of discretion when it comes to making their blankets.
“They just have to have a homemade touch,’ said Adams. “They have to be homemade and washable.’
Even those who can’t sew, knit or crochet can help. Volunteers help sew tags on blankets to indicate they are from Project Linus and attach a poem that reads in part “Let this blanket wrap you in friendship and cover you in love. Because this blanket was thinking of you long before it was even done.’
Supporters can also donate funding to help pay costs of the tags, stamps, postage and Project Linus newsletters. In addition, many supporters donate washable yarn (not wool) that Adams turns over to women who have talents to knit or crochet but live on fixed incomes and do not have the funds to buy materials. She explained four 4-oz. skeins of yarn will make a medium-sized blanket.
“We’re also looking for an organization to do a yarn drive,’ said Adams. “If I got 10 skeins of yarn from a drive, I’d be happy. One school in Pittsburgh did it and they collected 93 skeins of yarn in one day. They filled a refrigerator box with yarn.’
The chapter recently participated in the national Project Linus Make A Blanket Day when volunteers gathered at Point Marion Christian Church.
“We had 51 volunteers make 98 blankets in three hours,’ reported Adams. “There were students from West Virginia University and a woman came from Somerset County. She was touched by the fact that we donated blankets to the children and grandchildren of the Quecreek Miners.’
Adams delivered those blankets to Somerset County, assisted by the Red Cross. While she deals with local agencies, Adams will often deliver blankets to children herself.
Although she works fulltime as manager of training and development at West Virginia University, Adams is devoted to Project Linus and involves her family as well, including her husband, Ray, and their sons, Noah, 5, and Aaron John, 3, as well as her mother, Sandy Hritz of Brownsville, and mother-in-law, JoAnn Adams of Star Junction.
Speaking about her children, Adams said, “I want to instill a sense of generosity in them. My parents were very active in charity, mainly veterans’ charities because my father was a veteran. I think it’s important.’
This latest mission of Project Linus is being undertaken with the cooperation of a number of agencies.
Adams reported, “Project Linus is working with TAPS, which is a service family organization; Family Services Center Association, Non-Commissioned Officers Wives Clubs of America, Officers Wives Clubs of America, American Legion, Navy Wives Clubs of America and Operation Warm Hearts, which donates comfort things to families with deployed members.’
There are, as of yet, no reports of local children with family members who have been injured, killed or taken prisoner of war, but Adams is keeping alert and asked anyone with information on local residents to contact her.
Adams herself has been touched by the war. Her brother-in-law Ricky Adams of Star Junction, who is in the Air Force Reserves, is now stationed at the Pittsburgh airport where he is stocking planes. Her cousin Daniel Hritz of Grindstone, who is in the Army Reserves, has been called to active duty.
Anyone who is interested in helping Project Linus can contact Adams at 724-725-5269 or check the national Web site at www.projectlinus.org. Adams is also available to speak at schools as well as organizations such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H clubs, quilters, fraternities and sororities.
While some people regularly mail blankets to Adams, blankets can also be taken to several drop-off sites in the area: Adams at 409 Cyrus St., Point Marion; Michele Nevlud, 68 Union St., Uniontown, 724-439-4424; Sandy Hritz, 16 Playford Ave., Brownsville, 724-785-3790; JoAnn Adams, 320 Greenfield, Perryopolis, 724-736-2929; The Needlecraft Barn, 162 Chancery Row, Morgantown, 304-296-3789; Carol Hungate, WVU Extension Office, Monongalia County, 125 Cherry Hill Road, Morgantown; and Betty Berkheimer, 827 Cleardale Dr., Greensburg, 724-838-1919.
Adams also noted that as warm weather approaches, the number of blankets the chapter receives begins to drop. But the need is still there.
“It’s not a warm thing,’ Adams said. “It’s a comfort thing.’