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 | FALL/WINTER 2009 NEWSLETTER |
| OLLIE'S STORY |
| KOHL'S A-TEAM BLANKETMAKING EVENT |
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ABOUT PROJECT LINUS: A HUGE THANK YOU to each of our wonderful volunteers! Together, you made 3,488 blankets for Project Linus Tucson, from January 1 through August 2009! As of August 2009 we had delivered a total of 25,066 blankets to children in the Tucson area. When the chapter began in Spring 1999, our goal was to ultimately reach 1,000 children. Instead, look what's happened!!!! With the help of over 300 women, men and children, who regularly make and contribute blankets, Project Linus Tucson has given the gift of a security to many thousands of children.
As of March 21, 2009 there were 405 Project Linus Chapters. Chapters are in all states of the USA. Together, volunteers in these chapters had given 3,005,973 security blankets to children!
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION'S MISSION STATEMENT: Project Linus is a volunteer non-profit national organization with a twofold mission.
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION'S HISTORY: Project Linus began in Denver on Christmas Eve 1995 when an article appeared in Parade Magazine entitled, "Joy to the World". Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Eddie Adams, it featured a petite downy-haired little girl who had been undergoing intensive chemotherapy. The article stated that her security blanket helped her get through treatments. Karen Loucks read the article and decided to provide homemade security blankets to Denver's Rocky Mountain Children's Cancer Center. The idea grew, Charles Schultz's family gave permission to use the blanket-toting Linus as the logo, and Project Linus was born. |
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Members List:
Links Section
Coordinator:
Marge Koeller 578-7115
AsstCoord:
Jody Elmer 760-8852
NE Area:
Aileen Hurtado 323-8488
NW Area:
Elizabeth Stewart 825-0963
SE Area:
Jan VandenHeuvel 885-3126
SW Area:
Marge Koeller 578-7115
GREEN VALLEY:
Lois Westervelt 399-1411
Kids Helping Kids:
Dale Shoots 742-3801
OLLIE'S STORY
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Our volunteers act as liaisons to specific hospitals or facilities that serve children. They deliver blankets to the facilities, but it is the staff at the recipient facility that hands out the blankets to children. That means that we rarely know who received a blanket, or how much they loved it.
It is, therefore, exciting for us when we hear about the impact of one of our blankets on a child, or on the family of a child! To hear the story, and also get photos, is truly rare! This is Ollie's story:
Ollie in his incubator
When Ollie was born his esophagus was not properly attached, needed to be reattached, and he needed heart surgery. As if those surgeries weren't enough, after five weeks of fighting for his life, he developed a bad infection in his leg. The doctors told his parents that he might not make it.
Ollie's grandmother was taking shifts with the family, staying with the baby at night. She corresponded by e-mail with one of our volunteers.
Ollie
May 16: "He is in big trouble! I know that he wants to live. To look into his little eyes, you can see and feel it so clearly."
May 20: "Wow, you won't believe it, today a lady brought Oliver the sweetest handmade (Project Linus) blanket. The really cool thing, that really doesn't mean anything, but yet it does, is that it is the prettiest blue with little yellow duckies on one side, and soft yellow on the other."
Ollie on his Project Linus blanket
"Oliver loves yellow, he really does. And the cool thing is that when I come to see him my pajamas are a little lighter blue, with yellow duckies on them! Just another little God Wink."
The "coincidence" of Ollie's blanket being in the one color that he visually responds to, or in a pattern matching Grandma's pajamas, is not a surprise to Project Linus volunteers. Clearly, this blanket was intended for this family. We get letters saying things like "how did you know that green (or blue or purple) was my child's favorite color?" or "My child just loves clowns and your blanket was covered with clowns (or frogs, or sailboats, or puppies)." How did we know? We didn't, of course. It just happens -- often."
Ollie and his sister (with his blanket)
Ollie and his brother. Everybody loves the blanket!
