The next NRV Project Linus Blanket Day is tentatively set for February 16, 2019! It will be held at Grove United Methodist Church, 1020 Tyler Avenue, Radford, VA from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
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Here is a sampling of some of the wonderful blankets collected on our last
Blanket Day. A huge Thank You to all of our wonderful volunteers and their talents!
NRV Project Linus
October 23, 2018
Hello Friends,
Thanks to everyone who came out last Saturday and made our Fall Blanket
Day such a great success! We had 66 local adults and children attend as
well as 29 RU students. Everyone’s help in making and tacking new
blankets, sewing on labels, preparing blanket kits, bagging blankets,
setting up and taking down the space is so appreciated! We ended the day
with 429 new blankets for local NRV children. We also had a few blankets
donated that will go to Snowball Express – if you want to donate to this
special collection, get your blankets to me by November 1.
Our wonderful lunch of homemade soup and grilled cheese was a success,
along with all the fantastic homemade desserts! Thanks to everyone who
contributed to our lunch! And special thanks to Meg W. for managing the
kitchen and her helper, Susan W! Definitely two superwomen in the
kitchen! I say this every time, but I truly appreciate everyone who
contributes time and homemade efforts to share for our lunches. I could
not do this without your generosity.
Thanks to all who brought craft donations for our table at the upcoming
Vendor Fair. We can use any homemade craft items for this fundraiser,
which will be November 17 (no blankets, please). Please contact me if you
have craft items to donate.
The next Blanket Day is tentatively scheduled for February 16, 2019.
Thanks again to each of you for making the NRV chapter of Project Linus
such a success!
October 7, 2018
We’d like to say a great big Thank You to Sew Biz in Radford, VA and the new owner, Donna Worrell, for the wonderful fabric donation they gave to our chapter!! 51 bolts of child-friendly cotton fabric to make beautiful blankets for the children of the NRV! We greatly appreciate this amazing donation and encourage our Blanketeers to shop local and go visit Sew Biz sometime soon!
June 15, 2018
Hello Friends,
NRV Project Linus would like to send 75 blankets to support this event.
If you want to make a blanket specifically for this collection, please
have it to Penny by November 1st. If you leave your blankets at Joann’s,
be sure and label them for Snowball Express.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Snowball Express is an event of the Gary Sinise Foundation that provides a
holiday vacation for the families of active military who have died since
9/11. This has been held in the Dallas area previously, but for 2018 the
event will be at Walt Disney World near Orlando in early December. You
can get more information on their website www.SnowballExpress.org. (If
you are familiar with TAPS, this is a similar but separate event.)
Each year Project Linus chapters nationwide work together to provide
blankets for all the children attending this event. This year we expect
to serve about 1,200 children.
Blanket Specifications:
·Blankets must be new. The blankets can be quilts, fleece, knitted or
crochet.
·All blankets must be 45 X 60 or larger. The children who attend must be
5 years old, so we do not need baby blankets.
·Only Project Linus labels will be sewn on to the blankets. Nothing else,
no extra tags.
·If they are fleece tied blankets, please make sure that they do not have
selvages, are ONE layer only, and that they lie flat.
·Do not wrap up the blankets in any way. No individual plastic bags, no
yarn, nothing.
Themes – DO’s!
·Service-specific blankets are our greatest request (Army, Navy, Air
Force, Coast Guard- in that order). We do not need Marine blankets as we
have plenty.
·Next favorite are Star Wars, Superheroes, Minions, Disney, and camouflage.
·These kids also like popular themes so we’ll need plenty of sports,
cartoon characters, cheer, gymnastics, puppies, kittens, horses, lady
bugs, any animal, etc.
·We do want blankets from National, major league teams (NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA)!
·The kids loved the blankets that were entirely crocheted. They also
loved the chunky chenille crocheted blankets.
Themes- DON’Ts!
·DO NOT send any blankets that resemble the US flag. Flags are draped over
caskets at military funerals and may remind of that terrible day.
·Very few of these kids select patriotic themed blankets (red, white & blue).
·No College teams/logos.
·No Christmas or specific holiday-themed blankets. We want the kids to
love and use their blankets year-round.
Thanks so much to each of you for ALL you do to support Project Linus!!!
Fondly,
Penny Sweet (PHS1010@aol.com)
http://www.nrvprojectlinus.org
Facebook: NRV Project Linus
10/25/2018
Current Statistics for NRV PROJECT LINUS
Blankets received July – September 2018- 466
Blankets distributed July – September 2018 – 554
Total Blankets Distributed since NRV Project Linus inception – 38,814
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.