When best friends Kate Blehar and Meredith Tufts became involved with Project Linus, a non-profit organization that provides handmade blankets to children in need, it was with the hopes that one day their children would take over the annual community event. Seven years later, that is exactly what is happening.
Project Linus is a national program that makes and delivers blankets to critically ill children, or those victimized by fire or other catastrophic event. To date, the organization has delivered over 6 million blankets since 1995. So far, the Sterling branch has delivered more than 600 blankets.
Each November Blehar, Tufts, and their children, hold a blanket making workshop at the Conant Public Library. Participants assemble a fringe looped fleece blanket that requires no sewing, of the size and fabric design of their choice. Their children have been an integral part of this opportunity to give back and have become more and more involved as the years go by.
“As our children have gotten older, they’ve taken on more responsibility and become more personally involved with the project,” Tufts says of her children Sydney, 10, and Ethan, 9, and Blehar’s daughters, Hannah, 11, and Emily, 9.
The four children help select the fabric swatches for the blankets, fold and organize the blankets, assist with cutting and fringing the blankets ahead of time, and now host the event itself. They teach families how to finish the blankets, oversee the creation of the handmade cards that are sent along with each blanket, and help assemble the blankets prior to donating them.
Hannah, who says her favorite part of the process is the day everyone comes together to make blankets, began helping with Project Linus when she was just four years old.
“I really like helping the kids who come to the library to make blankets to donate,” she says. “It makes me feel good to know that we’re giving blankets to kids who need comfort. I think it means a lot to them, to know that people care and are thinking of them and hoping they feel better. I really enjoy doing the project. Now that I’m older, it feels like my project, not just something that the moms are doing.”
Her sister Emily, who is in the fourth grade, started participating in Project Linus when she was just two years old. She enjoys picking out fabric swatches and showing the families who come to the event at the library how to assemble the blankets.
“I think they feel happy,” Emily says of the blanket recipients. “If they’re in the hospital, then maybe something bad happened, and the blanket is something good that can help them feel better.”
Nine-year-old Ethan’s favorite part of the project is making the blankets, and the feeling he gets from giving back. “I like helping other people in need and being able to give them something that they wouldn’t get if we didn’t have Project Linus,” he says. “I think they feel loved.”
For Sydney, the act of creating something you can touch to give to someone in need is something she enjoys about being a part of Project Linus She also likes making the blankets and teaching others how to make them.
“I like that with Project Linus, you can actually make something to be donated to help others instead of just giving money to a charity,” she says. “I think it makes them feel happy that someone is thinking about them and made them a blanket.”
Having their children so actively involved is a dream come true for Blehar and Tufts. Their vision was to create an environment where their children learn to give back and encourage others to give back as well.
“When Meredith and I started the project in 2012, it was our hope that someday our children would take pride and ownership in it and that they would help to keep it going,” Blehar says. “That’s happening, and it’s been amazing to see their growing involvement each year.”
This year’s blanket-making event will take place on Saturday, November 3, at Conant Public Library. Thirty-minute blanket assembly time slots are available from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. No sewing is required, which makes the event ideal for participants of all ages. Fabric is cut and prepared beforehand, and assembly consists of looping the fringe through slits along the edge of the blanket.
Registration is required. Registration deadline is Saturday, September 22 at 2 p.m. Material fee is $8 for a baby blanket, $10 for a child blanket, and $12 for a teen blanket. To register, visit the library or contact Meredith Tufts at meredithtufts@hotmail.com. Donations of new, handmade blankets that meet the criteria of Project Linus are also accepted. For more information visit projectlinus.org