Project Linus: Blankets for Children in Crisis

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-Welcome to Good News, brought to you by Listening for Clues.

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We are Lauren Welch and Jon Shematek Deacons in the

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Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

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We sure are.

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And today we have some good news that we're bringing to

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you with our special guest.

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Kay Belzner Kay is a volunteer with Project Linus.

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She's a retired elementary school counselor, married to Chuck.

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They live in Baltimore County, and Kay enjoys reading, sewing, knitting for

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charity, gardening, crafting, finding ways to help those in need and exploring

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and deepening her relationship with God.

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Welcome, Kay.

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We're so glad to have you.

Kay: 00:01:00

Thank you.

Kay: 00:01:00

I'm really happy to be here today.

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So,

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We're really glad that you're here with us today.

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Kay.

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So what really interested in Project Linus is tell us what

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inspired you to get involved.

Kay: 00:01:15

Well, Project Linus was something I sort of heard about

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or read about in a magazine, and I understood that they made blankets.

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For children in need.

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Perhaps children who were homeless or going into foster care maybe had

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had a death in the family or even in the community, maybe in their school.

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And that's always been something close to my heart as it, as Jon

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said in the, the introduction.

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I love helping other people.

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If I can find ways to do that in simple ways.

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And I've always loved to sew.

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Learned in middle school like a lot of us did at this age.

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And you know, did a lot of my own clothes for many years and then

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did things for nieces and nephews.

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And then it got to a point where there wasn't really anything

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else to make for anybody.

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And I thought, well, this'll be a great outlet for my desire to sew

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and my love of fabric and getting back into knitting, which I also do.

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But then sharing that in a way that will hopefully benefit others.

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That's great.

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Kay.

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So tell us a little bit more about Project Linus.

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How does it actually work?

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Well, project Linus is primarily an all volunteer organization.

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The only employees they have they have a president who is located in

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Kansas City there is a part-time IT person and an assistant to that

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executive director, and president.

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Everyone else is volunteer and what project Linus asks for are

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brand new handmade blankets for children ages zero through 18.

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And they're distributed through what we call chapters across the country.

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And right now there are about 306 chapters across the country.

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Quite a, quite a number in Maryland.

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Here where we are, I happen to participate with the Carroll County chapter, even

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though I live in Baltimore County, it's where I got started with them.

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So then once the blankets are made and collected by each chapter,

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then they're distributed to various agencies that work with that chapter.

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So, So, for example, our chapter will donate to Kennedy Krieger Institute.

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They will, we will donate to Johns Hopkins to G B M C, to a local surgical

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center in Westminster Carroll Hospital.

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We have other chapters that might donate, like I said, to schools, or

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there might be a special need that might come up in a community where

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someone will contact Project Linus and say, we had a tragedy in our school,

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or we had a tragedy in our, community.

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Do you have some blankets that we can kind of give a hug?

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To a kid that's, that's kind of the purpose is the

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blanket, hopefully is a hug.

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A little bit of love for not only the child, but very often the family members

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as well who are caring for that child.

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And we find, even the teens enjoy and they get, sometimes they pick out their

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own, you know, they might, a nurse might come in with some to choose.

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And so we try to, to spread that fabric in a way that would

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appeal to anyone from an infant up through a, teenager in high school.

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So you've been doing this for a while, Kay.

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You must have lots of stories to share.

Kay: 00:04:06

I have Lauren, I've been doing this since 2004.

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I made my first blanket just sort of on a whim.

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I had some flannel and some denim, and I thought, this looks like a boy.

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And I put together sort of a what I call a cuddle blanket.

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At that time especially, I was not a true quilter.

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And you don't have to be.

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So I put that together and received a thank you note from the chapter

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and I thought, well, that's nice.

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I could do this again.

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And since that time I've created 144 blankets that I've donated

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over the last 19 years and.

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You know, again, we don't do it for the thanks, but it's also nice to hear

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sometimes from someone probably the most touching note I received was from a child

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at the Baltimore Child Abuse Center.

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This was several years ago, and they mailed the card because you can put

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your information on the blanket, you can put a tag on it that has just

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your name and address if you choose.

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And so this note came and it was a drawing and it looked like maybe a child

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that was maybe seven or eight years old had the sun shining and some flowers,

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and it said thank you for my blanket.

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I love it.

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I can't wait to take it home.

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And of course, it, it touches your heart because you don't know

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what this child's situation is

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and so, That really touched my heart and sort of tugged

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at my heartstrings a little.

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There was another situation where we had a young man who had a terminal illness

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and he was in the Carroll County area and he happened to get one of my blankets.

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You never know where yours is gonna go, you just donate.

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And so he sent me a note back thanking me and letting me know that he also

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now was making blankets for other kids.

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He was about 12.

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And sadly, he he passed away from his terminal illness, at which time

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we made some memorial donations in his name because he had sort

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of become part of our chapter.

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I've had parents send me pictures of their little ones holding the blankets.

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And it may be just an ER visit, you know, it might be a dog bite,

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it could be a respiratory illness.

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It doesn't necessarily mean it's a terminal thing, but just comfort

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during a real scary time for, for families as well as for the kids.

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Kay.

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That sounds like that's really personally been very rewarding for you.

Kay: 00:06:09

Mm-hmm.

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Very much so.

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Recently, there was also a situation where there was a young woman

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in the Harford County area who was in a terrible car accident.

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And I found out about it through some peripheral friends and they suggested

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maybe a Project Linus blanket and I was actually able, I don't normally

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deliver, but I was able to take this directly to her father while she was

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still at the hospital where she remains.

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It's, it's been about nine weeks.

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She's in.

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Rehabilitation now, but to be able to actually deliver that to her dad on

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her behalf, just something to brighten her room, you know, if nothing else.

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And just to hopefully bring a little cheer and a little hope and

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a reminder that they're loved and that people are thinking of them.

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Kay.

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You mentioned in your bio that a lot of what you do in your life help

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you with your relationship with God.

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How has this one changed or enhanced your relationship with God?

Kay: 00:07:09

I think for me, The first thing is doing for others.

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That's always, I, I guess a way that I, I look for ways that I can, as, as they

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say, Christ has no body on earth but ours.

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And so that takes all kinds of forms and I feel like a blanket could

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certainly be a form if, if I can say with some fabric or with some yarn that

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someone cares about you, someone loves you, that there's good in the world.

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Especially now, things are, we're in a very tough place

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in our world and I think I.

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Sending that out into the world, it reminds me.

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But then the joy that I get back from it and I finish something

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and I look at it and, oh, I wonder who's going to get this blanket?

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Or I hope someone picks this and it makes them smile.

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Or what can I do to make this even cuter And even as I'm looking for

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fabrics, I'm thinking about the children.

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And so I think in that way it has helped me.

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Another thing I try to do is as I finish a blanket before I donate

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them, I bless them, I pray over them praying for not only the children.

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The parents and then whoever it might be, the caregivers, the

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medical team, the social workers, whoever's involved with that child.

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And so I'll, I'll do a prayer of blessing over them.

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And then most recently, what's been kind of interesting at up until

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I retired, I would just donate blankets, dropped them off at a Joanne

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Fabric store, and that was that.

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But since I've retired, I've been able to start participating in person.

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And Carroll County chapter is actually an hour away from me,

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so it's not necessarily close.

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I only go two times a month.

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That time in the car.

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For me, knowing where I'm going, I might listen to an audiobook or something

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that will be maybe inspirational for me.

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I'll have some quiet, just turn everything down and just have some prayer time.

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I might explore an area out there that I'm not used to.

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Maybe there's a park or a place to visit.

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It's sort of a retreat day, if that makes sense.

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That's a day dedicated to Project Linus, but also to me, and I can kind of reap

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the benefits of it being sort of a quiet, spiritual day for me as well.

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So that's, that's also been a blessing.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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That's, that's amazing.

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These are, these are definitely prayer blankets then.

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Mm-hmm.

Jon: 00:09:25

Yeah, yeah.

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So Kay, in the 19 years that you've been doing this, have you encountered any bumps

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in the road or, or obstacles, or has it been really smooth sailing all along?

Kay: 00:09:37

I think the only bumps I've probably run into would be my own lack of time

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at times where I want it to make more.

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I want it to be more proactive.

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I And for me personally, sometimes comparing myself to other people,

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which I know I shouldn't do.

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I'll look at a blanket and boy, oh, mine, mine looks so simple.

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But then I said, no, it doesn't matter.

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That's also been good because I've looked and said, these are the talents

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that God gave me., certainly that's what I tell everybody who says, oh,

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I can't make blankets like those.

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And I said, make it with love and it'll be fine.

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You know, some kid will love it.

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Last week, at the chapter one woman said, I had what I thought was the most

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unattractive blanket I've ever seen, and this young teenage girl just scooped

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it up and couldn't wait to take it.

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So what we like, don't, like doesn't mean a kid will or won't.

Kay: 00:10:21

Yeah.

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So I think your, if your heart is there and your intention is there..

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I would say it's such a, a smoothly run organization.

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It's such a generous group of people.

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That's what has really impressed me as well, is the generosity, not just

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financially of, of making these blankets, but just of their time, their talent.

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And sharing ideas.

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We talk about that at the chapter.

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We get inspired by one another or someone will take the time to teach

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someone else, you know, this is how you put binding on, or this is how you do

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this crochet stitch, I've really been touched as I've gotten more involved in

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person at the generosity of, of folks.

Lauren: 00:11:02

So you, you build community also?

Kay: 00:11:05

Absolutely.

Kay: 00:11:06

I've only been at attending in person for about, I.

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A little over a year, and I very much feel a part of this community already.

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And these were not women that I knew.

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Mostly women.

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There's a few men.

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They were just names on a paper or on a newsletter.

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So there was no personal connection.

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But I have to say, I, I feel very blessed and I feel like I've made friends.

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Without question, and, I've jumped in.

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I do the newsletter now for our chapter.

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We have letter twice a year to just, again, remind people of

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different ideas and to try to e encourage people to give it a try.

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You know, if it's one blanket a year, it's one blanket a year.

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there's no limit or requirement at all.

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Kay, that's making me wonder are there specific

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skills that people need to have?

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If you have basic sewing skills, you could do something as simple as

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a single sheet of a piece of fabric.

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Say that was 36 by 36, and you take two of them, sew them together

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back to back, turn 'em inside out and run a stitch around them.

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And that could be a baby blanket.

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So it can be as simple as that.

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We have groups that do the fleece blankets.

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Sometimes you'll see a piece of fleece that has fringe that's been

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tied in knots along the edges.

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We have sort of specifications.

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But there's lots of instructions on the website.

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But you could do something as simple as that.

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We've had like girl scout groups or youth groups do those kinds of blankets for us.

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We have senior centers that make blankets for us, and so

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there's really no requirement.

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It could be and, and it could be simple as somebody who just

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knows how to straight knit.

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It could be somebody who finds this beautiful pattern that's

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full of lacy design or likes to change colors or whatever.

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So it can be as simple as something that really a, a middle school or, or, or even

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an elementary school with some help could do up through very experienced folks.

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And, and the making of the blankets is certainly one way and fleece, quilting

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flannel as well as then knit or crochet.

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The thing that we do ask, and I know this podcast could be seen probably across the

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country, is that each chapter really has.

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A sense of what they need and why.

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So for example, our chapter will not take two pieces of fleece that are tied

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together to make a double fleece blanket.

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They're too hot, they're too heavy, they're too thick,

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they take up too much storage.

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But I know there are chapters up in the northern.

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Part of the country who want those doubles because they've got those cold

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winters and, and really need them.

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So it's really important to check with individual chapters where you're

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located, if you want to donate what do you need, what are you looking for?

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What are minimum requirements for size, which typically about 30 by 30, but some

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chapters don't want them that small.

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So it's important to check.

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With individual chapters.

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It's not the chapter making the decision really.

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It's who they're going to, who needs them, and what do they need

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so that they can meet the needs.

Jon: 00:13:52

And so Project Linus is in all 50 states in the United States.

Kay: 00:13:56

I believe we may be missing one or two states.

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Each chapter requires a chapter coordinator, which is a volunteer who kind

Kay: 00:14:04

of spearheads everything for that group.

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They may not participate.

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Physically.

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We have a lot of chapter coordinators who work full-time, and this is a

Kay: 00:14:12

part-time for them, but they may have a team of people that then help them,

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but the coordinators are responsible for tracking how many blankets came in,

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how many blankets went out, who needs them, who's getting them this month.

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Applying for grant money entering information.

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Providing, figuring out what can we spend the money on?

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And there are guidelines for all of that because we wanna keep

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everything as much focused on the blankets, obviously, as we can.

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So that's a very busy position, but we have a lot of other folks who

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plug in and other ways to volunteer if you didn't sew or didn't knit but

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still wanted to be a part of things.

Kay: 00:14:48

We have groups of people that go to Joanne Fabrics or the

Kay: 00:14:51

senior center, or the Walmart or wherever the collection sites are.

Kay: 00:14:55

Pick those up once a month.

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Take them home, make sure there aren't pins left in them and things like that.

Kay: 00:15:00

We have people then that they bring those to the meeting once a month.

Kay: 00:15:03

Our Carroll County chapter gets between four and 500 blankets a month.

Kay: 00:15:07

That we then distribute.

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And so then we bag them up one day, you know, on one day a month,

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we bag those up and label them.

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And then another group of people takes them and then they'll deliver

Kay: 00:15:17

them to Johns Hopkins or they'll deliver 'em to Kennedy Krieger.

Kay: 00:15:20

So we have people who deliver and pick up who, when I say inspect again,

Kay: 00:15:24

just to make sure there aren't pins.

Kay: 00:15:26

And we do have to be careful about things like smoke.

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Or pet hair or dander because so many of these are going to hospitals and

Kay: 00:15:34

with allergies and compromised health situations, we have to make sure that all

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the blankets are, are clear of that, which is why we ask for new handmade blankets.

Kay: 00:15:42

So that it's not used materials.

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So there are other ways to to assist.

Kay: 00:15:46

Even something as simple as maybe if you wanted to go to

Kay: 00:15:49

a meeting, somebody could cut.

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Cut fabric.

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If they, if they weren't good at sewing, they could assist somebody else.

Kay: 00:15:54

And maybe they do the cutting and somebody else does the sewing.

Kay: 00:15:56

So there's creative ways that you can help, even if you're

Kay: 00:15:59

not hooked to a sewing machine.

Jon: 00:16:03

Great.

Jon: 00:16:06

And so let me just kind of follow up with that a little bit.

Jon: 00:16:09

Kay.

Jon: 00:16:09

A lot of ways to help.

Jon: 00:16:10

It's all over the country pretty much.

Jon: 00:16:13

How do people find out what the local chapter is?

Jon: 00:16:16

Okay.

Jon: 00:16:17

Do you have a website?

Kay: 00:16:17

Yes, we do.

Kay: 00:16:18

It's www.projectlinus.org and on there you will see a link for chapters and then each

Kay: 00:16:25

state, you click on your state and it will give you all the locations in that state.

Kay: 00:16:29

And within that it will give you the contact person for that chapter.

Kay: 00:16:33

It may also list the drop site.

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For that particular chapter, there's a little flag that you can click on.

Kay: 00:16:39

In addition to that, on the website, you can also click on,

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you could donate through there.

Kay: 00:16:44

There's a store, they call it a store where you could purchase patterns.

Kay: 00:16:47

Sometimes there's free patterns on the site..

Kay: 00:16:49

You could also, once a year there's a knitalong and as well as a mystery

Kay: 00:16:54

quilt, and that's one of their biggest fundraisers of the year.

Kay: 00:16:57

And so you can designate.

Kay: 00:16:59

The cost of that, which you pay for to go to your local chapter if you choose,

Kay: 00:17:04

and you get clues for about eight weeks.

Kay: 00:17:06

And that's fun because people across the country are working on the same project.

Kay: 00:17:10

And there's Facebook pages for those.

Kay: 00:17:12

Project.

Kay: 00:17:13

Linus itself also has a Facebook page.

Kay: 00:17:15

The official one is called Project Linus Volunteers, USA so there's

Kay: 00:17:22

information there on, on how to donate, how to purchase items.

Kay: 00:17:26

They have t-shirts and tote bags and all those kind of things.

Kay: 00:17:29

With Project Linus, that's all been licensed.

Kay: 00:17:32

Through Charles Schultz.

Kay: 00:17:33

And we have permission to use it and have to reapply I believe it's every

Kay: 00:17:37

three years and can only be used at certain times in certain ways.

Jon: 00:17:41

Great.

Jon: 00:17:42

And we'll be sure to put those web links and Facebook links in our show notes for

Jon: 00:17:46

people to easily get to Project Linus.

Kay: 00:17:48

Yeah, that would be great.

Lauren: 00:17:51

Kay,.

Lauren: 00:17:51

Is there anything else you'd like to share with us about your experience?

Kay: 00:17:55

I would just encourage people to take a peek if they're even a little bit

Kay: 00:18:00

interested in, in some charity knitting or they, when they're sitting around watching

Kay: 00:18:04

TV at night, they want something to do and maybe they haven't knitted for a while.

Kay: 00:18:08

It's just such a heartwarming organization and you really can see

Kay: 00:18:13

what's happening, we get thank you notes.

Kay: 00:18:15

In general, the, the national site will post sometimes thank you

Kay: 00:18:19

notes from a parent and you figure for every thank you note that you

Kay: 00:18:22

see there's 50 that you don't.

Kay: 00:18:24

So I can't help but believe that that little ripple is going out there.

Kay: 00:18:28

And, and again, for me, that's, that's that other piece of, of

Kay: 00:18:31

God for me is I believe that.

Kay: 00:18:33

There is that ripple.

Kay: 00:18:34

And I think God uses us to do those little simple things that then in turn might

Kay: 00:18:38

inspire the next person to do something, whether it's this or something else.

Kay: 00:18:42

But I just encourage people, even just read about it and see if, if it fits for

Kay: 00:18:45

you or if not for a friend, maybe you know, someone or your grandmom's looking

Kay: 00:18:50

for something, you know, to, to work on.

Kay: 00:18:52

And like I said, we get a lot of folks from the senior center

Kay: 00:18:55

and it keeps them occupied.

Kay: 00:18:56

We have one lady that comes to our group, she's 91.

Kay: 00:19:00

She still sews.

Kay: 00:19:01

She doesn't drive someone brings her, but she will do easily 20 blankets a month,

Kay: 00:19:06

you know, that, that we see for her.

Kay: 00:19:08

And she comes with her friend and they're a little team and they work together.

Kay: 00:19:11

So you're not too old or too young to give it a try.

Kay: 00:19:14

And it's just, like I said, it's been such an important part of my life and

Kay: 00:19:17

now that I'm retired, I'm enjoying it even, even more because I feel

Kay: 00:19:21

like I can dedicate more time to it.

Kay: 00:19:23

So I would encourage folks to check it out.

Lauren: 00:19:26

You're truly making a difference in the lives of lots

Lauren: 00:19:29

of people and especially children.

Kay: 00:19:32

Thank you.

Kay: 00:19:32

I, we hope so.

Kay: 00:19:33

That's our goal.

Kay: 00:19:34

Yeah, that's our good news.

Kay: 00:19:35

Yes.

Kay: 00:19:37

Yeah.

Jon: 00:19:38

Yeah.

Jon: 00:19:38

And Kay, thank you so much for being with us today and

Jon: 00:19:40

helping to share this good news.

Jon: 00:19:42

We really absolutely appreciate it.

Jon: 00:19:44

Thanks again.

Jon: 00:19:45

Thanks.

Kay: 00:19:45

Thanks for having me.

Kay: 00:19:46

Take care.

Lauren: 00:19:48

And Jon and I also want to thank all those who are watching or listening.

Lauren: 00:19:53

We cannot spread good news without your participation.

Lauren: 00:19:58

Please take a moment to comment, like, and share on all your social

Lauren: 00:20:04

media platforms so that will help us spread good news to even more people.

Lauren: 00:20:11

And again, thank you for the gift of your time.

Lauren: 00:20:14

Until next time, peace and blessings.

Jon: 00:20:18

Good news is being brought to you by Listening for Clues.

Jon: 00:20:22

You can find us on our website, listeningforclues.com, our YouTube

Jon: 00:20:27

channel, our Vimeo channel, and just about every podcast platform that there is.