Project Linus: Help Love the Least of These

Do your children have a beloved blanket that brings them comfort in times of need?  Do you remember as a child cuddling a soft lovey to keep you calm and full of peace?  In our home, each of our children has a special blanket.  As a young toddler, our oldest son named his buddy "Bee" and was soon followed by his sister, who pronounced hers "Bee Bee".  Although #3 has yet to christen his beloved, his siblings have appropriately donned the name "Bee Bee Bee" for his object of comfort.

These three blankets have been through countless wash cycles, or baths, as we call them when a tired child goes in search of a missing blanket who is getting degrimed and degermed.  I'll spare you the gory details, but these blankets have been blanketed multiple times by various substances from ailing children requiring their comfort.  They have been dragged to preschool and the doctor's office, taken on trips for sleeping, used as pillows, cried upon, snuggled with during family movie night and even shared with siblings who were in the middle of a good cry.  Throughout all life's moments they have been a constant source of comfort in the early formative years.  My children have this constant in their lives, but they also have the constant of loving parents and thus far good health.

Imagine that you are caring for a child going through a difficult time.  Maybe you are in that situation right now.  Perhaps your child in need is ill or abandoned, working through a difficult life transition like loss of a parent, adoption, or treatment for cancer.  Children in these situations often do not have much that is constant to bring them comfort and familiarity.

How do you show love to that child? How do you give them a tangible portrayal of how much you care for them?  Earlier this week I shared my heart of how I want to genuinely love those around me and now I'm going to start putting it into action.

I'm committing to creating for Project Linus.  Won't you consider joining me?

Project Linus is a non-profit organization whose mission is to "Provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer 'blanketeers'".  

I reviewed which services/ministries participate in distributing these donated blankets to children in my community through the local chapter and found multiple hospitals (including where I work one day each week), adoption and foster care agencies, safe havens for victims of abuse, and facilities for special needs children, among several other organizations focused on improving life for the powerless, the children.  

I can't tell you today how many projects I will complete this year, but I am setting a personal goal to donate at least 2 completed blankets to serve children in my community in 2013.  I recently started knitting and am enjoying the process as I learn, so I plan to get started with knitting a blanket next for Project Linus.  I am also setting the goal of one finished quilt for a child in need of comfort.

Please consider joining me!  In my months of blogging, I have learned that there is a community of big-hearted people out there who desire to use their talents in extraordinary ways.  I would love to see us support one another in the completion of projects benefiting those who are powerless to serve themselves.  

I will be checking in periodically on this blog with my Project Linus works in progress and in two months time (mid-April), I will host a link party for my wonderful creative friends to link up and share the projects they have been creating to benefit Project Linus in their community.

Assuming I can find a good You Tube tutorial video on yarning over, I plan to attempt this beginner blanket as my first Project Linus donation.  I'm pinning other project ideas on my Knitting board on Pinterest.

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Just go to the website to find more information about your local chapter and the requirements for donated projects.  I found out my county's local chapter meets at my son's school, right here in my neighborhood.  At their monthly meetings, they often provide lessons, tips and tricks for finishing quilts, fleece blankets, and crocheted or knitted afghans.  Before you get started, check your local chapter's guidelines for donations.  Here are some of the guidelines listed:

We appreciate your blanket donation and ask that the following guidelines are carefully followed. In keeping with national guidelines, all donations must be new and handmade.

Colors: Bright, happy, child-friendly.

Approximate Sizes:
Infant (36" x 36")
Toddler (36" x 48")
Child (45" x 54")
Teen (45" x 65")

Materials:
Acrylic Yarn for crochet and knitted blankets
100% Cotton for quilted blankets
Fleece

Methods:
Quilted blankets with traditional quilting of layers or tied
Crochet or Knitted with compact stitches rather than having large holes or lace-type pattern
Fleece with all selvages removed and edges finished by tying, crochet-edge or machine stitched edge

Safety Check
Please check that completed blankets do not contain any of the following: cat or dog hair, pins, embellishments that could pose as choking hazards such as buttons or other decorative additions.

If you think you might like to join me in this mission, please leave me a comment so we can check in with each other.  I would be honored to have the opportunity to encourage you in your projects and share in your joy as they are completed!  If you are interested but need help getting started, check out the link to patterns on the Project Linus website.  If there is not a chapter of Project Linus locally to which you can contribute, I would encourage you to look for other arenas in which to donate your creations which are so lovingly made by your hands.  I am exploring donating directly to an adoption and foster agency in our community that ensures each child displaced and looking for a home goes out with something tangible to love in the form of a stuffed animal or lovey.  

Get creative with your creating!  You can host a party of fellow crafters one evening and finish some quick sew projects together or make this endeavor a service project for your next Bible study group or other community activity.  Children can donate as well; a 4th grader in my church who I love dearly has donated in the past.

I want to leave you with a final thought on "loving the least of these".  This song by Audio Adrenaline really captures the spirit of caring for the children, the abandoned, the poor, and the orphaned.  We are not all called to adoption, but we are called to love the powerless, the hurting and the least of these.  Donating blankets is certainly not the only way and may not be right for you, so there is no pressure, but if it is on your heart to create for this mission, be encouraged that there are many others creating right alongside you. 

If you want to share the goal of creating for Project Linus and be a part of the link party on April 14, feel free to copy and paste this button to spread the word. 

<center> <a href=" http://www.ahumblecreation.com/2013/02/project-linus-help-love-least-of-these.html " target="_blank"><img alt="Project Linus" src=" http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s621/A_Humble_Creation/ProjectLinusButton_zps316c699c.jpg " /></a></center>

I look forward to creating and serving with you!

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