How Project Linus Is Using Volunteers To Provide Comfort To Critically Ill Children

Children who are traumatized or critically ill need reassurance and hope as part of their healing. Carol Babbitt, the national president of Project Linus, explains that homemade security blankets provide comfort to grieving, fearful, and pain-ridden children in times of need. The project also gives volunteers an opportunity to use their skills to create tangible gifts for suffering, local children.

The Project

Volunteers known as “blanketeers” make all the blankets that Project Linus distributes. The project receives much of the material such as fabric, batting, and yarn through donations. Project Linus doesn’t accept store-bought items but only blankets, afghans, quilts, and comforters that are handmade, so that the children understand that the blanketeers make the items especially for them. The blankets must be free of smoke smell, chemicals, pet dander, and other contaminants. Additionally, they cannot contain buttons, pins, or other dangerous embellishments. Recipients of the blankets are children up to age 18.

The Organization

A board of directors governs Project Linus, which has its headquarters in Illinois and chapters in all 50 states. The Project Linus website and local chapters provide patterns for blanketeers to use. The chapters coordinate blanket drop-offs and distributions to children that need the blankets. For instance, the Columbia Basin Herald in the state of Washington reports that a group called the Basin Piecemakers Quilt Guild worked together to create 27 quilts, and the local Project Linus chapter distributed them to children and teens aged 6 to 17 at a bereavement camp called Camp Erin. Project Linus also distributes blankets to children in shelters, hospitals, social service agencies, and other facilities with children in need.

Handmade blankets aren’t the only things that can help children in need. Handmade dolls also provide joy and comfort in the midst of sickness and devastation. Why not consider donating to provide one for a Haitian child in need?