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June 30, 2020
Good morning Friends,
Thanks to everyone who contributed to our Blanket Drop-off recently! We had lots of folks drive by and it was great seeing each one! We took in 154 new blankets, which is double the amount from last June’s drop-off. Thank you for helping us continue to supply wonderful, new handmade blankets to children in need in the NRV!
A few pictures are on our NRV Project Linus Facebook page showing a sampling of the great work that our NRV Blanketeers can do!
Visit https://www.facebook.com/NRV-Project-Linus-327425308672/. to see more pictures from the drop off day.
For quilters who enjoy participating in mystery quilt challenges, details on the 2020 Project Linus Mystery Quilt Challenge will be released in July! This is a great project to participate in annually and is the largest fundraiser for Project Linus all year! You can follow information on the national Project Linus website (www.projectlinus.org) or on the Challenge Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/848183768557929/.
We will keep you updated if plans develop for a Fall Blanket Day – right now, there are no plans for a Blanket Day event. Stay safe and well, and keep making those beautiful blankets for NRV children!
Fondly,
Penny Sweet, Chapter Coordinator
Laura Eanes, Assistant
NRV Project Linus was fortunate to receive a grant from Fairlawn WalMart this year! A picture is attached showing Penny with some great WalMart employees and friends of Project Linus. We certainly are grateful to be chosen for this grant! Thank you Walmart!
A LETTER FROM OUR COORDINATORS
6/04/2020
Hello Friends,
We have been thinking of each of you and hope you are doing well and staying safe at home as much as possible during this unusual time. Our Project Linus chapter has a birthday this month – 20 years ago, Penny brought the magic of Project Linus to Radford and the New River Valley, and it has just grown and grown! We cannot tell you how much we value our Blanketeers for without you, there would be no blankets to share with those in need in our local area! You have blessed so many with your knitting, sewing, and crocheting and endless support of our chapter. Thank you, thank you, a million times over!
Just this week, Penny received two requests from agencies that needed blankets. There are special regulations to follow, of course, but we were able to re-supply some locations and hopefully more will begin accepting blankets very soon. In light of that, we will be holding a drop-off day for any blankets that you have ready and would like to turn in. We will not be holding a regular Blanket Day event.
On June 20, we’ll be at the two locations below to pick up finished blankets. Just look for the maroon van with “Blanket Lady” license plates!
Grove United Methodist Church (1020 Tyler Avenue, Radford) parking lot, 10 am – 12 noon
Joann Fabrics, Christiansburg parking lot, 2 pm – 4 pm
If you don’t follow us on Facebook, you may not have seen the news – today our National President, Patty Gregory, announced that as of this morning, Project Linus chapters across the nation have delivered 8,019,901 blankets to children in need!! Thank you to each of you who have helped to make that possible!!
A couple of other items to note – as of now, we don’t have any definite plan for a Blanket Day in the fall. We will keep everyone posted if we are able to schedule an event. Also, Michele’s Beauty Shop in Radford is no longer a drop off location for blankets due to Michele’s retirement.
We sincerely appreciate each one of you who makes blankets for our chapter! We look forward to seeing some of you on June 20th and hope that we can gather again as a group very soon! Stay safe and well!
Fondly,
Penny Sweet, Chapter Coordinator
Laura Eanes, Assistant
March 2020
Current Statistics for NRV PROJECT LINUS
Blankets received January – March 2020 – 970
Blankets distributed January – March – 538
Total Blankets Distributed since NRV Project Linus inception – 42,330
Would you like to learn a special skill??
NRV Project Linus provides weighted blankets to children with special needs. These blankets retail for between $100-$250 making it totally inaccessible for most children in need. We have an expert weighted blanket artisan who can’t wait to share her skills with someone who would like to learn to assist with this special project. Materials are provided but you would need to own a sewing machine and have basic sewing skills. Please contact Penny Sweet if you are interested.
PROJECT LINUS DID YOU KNOW?
- Karen Loucks started Project Linus on December 24,1995. The New River Valley-Radford Chapter begin in June, 2000.
- Project Linus nationally has been alive for 6.942 days as of January 1.2017
- Project Linus nationally has had non-profit status since May 12, 1997
- The New River Valley-Radford Chapter of Project Linus donated 2,441 blankets in 2016. Since we started, we have delivered 33,467 blankets!
- Project Linus nationally has officially collected over 6,063,751 blankets as of January 1, 2017. If 60% of them are fabric, that translated into over 10,914,751 yards of fabric. If 40% are afghans, that is over 19,404,003 skeins of yarn.
- If each blanket is an average of 60: long, and we laid them end to end, they would stretch 30,318,755 feet or 5,742 miles. That is as tall as 1,44 Mt. Everests, or 17,071 One World Trade Centers or 24,255 Empire State Buildings or as long as 101,062 football fields.
Project Linus was named after the adorable security blanket-toting character from the Peanuts© comic strip. Creator Charles Schulz was aware of our efforts and was delighted to have Linus inspire blanket makers to help comfort children in need.
Project Linus began in December 1995 after Karen Loucks was inspired to make blankets for her local children’s cancer center. Since then, Project Linus has expanded to include children who are seriously ill or traumatized in many ways.
MISSION STATEMENT
Project Linus is a volunteer non-profit organization with a two-fold mission:
FIRST, it is our mission 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.”
SECOND, it is our mission to provide rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.
Anyone, any age, can help these children. It is within your power to make a difference.
Nearly 400 chapters of Project Linus exist nationally, with more than 4,000,000 blankets donated to children.