Project Linus

Wrapping children in a blanket of safety and comfort

Just a little prick to draw some blood before they took her tonsils. But it didn’t come easily. And it did hurt, and she was scared and only 6. She reached for the comfort of her red corduroy coat. And hiding her face beneath the familiar fabric, she cried.

Had she been at Community Hospital, someone would have handed her a brand-new, handcrafted security blanket of her very own. It would have brought her comfort during a scary procedure and would have continued to do so as she convalesced at home.

The blankets are provided by Project Linus, a volunteer-based, nonprofit organization founded by Karen Loucks in 1996 to “provide security through blankets” to ill or traumatized children. As such, they are a gift to the hospital, to the community, to the children.

Loucks had just learned how to crochet when, on Christmas Eve 1995, she saw “Joy to the World,” an article in Parade Magazine by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Eddie Adams. The story featured the picture of a tiny child with cancer who said that her security blanket was helping her get through her chemotherapy treatments.

Inspired, Loucks responded by providing blankets to Denver’s Rocky Mountain Children’s Cancer Center, her first step toward the establishment of Project Linus.

Named for the Peanuts^® character whose profundity and wisdom seem anchored in the security of his blanket, and endorsed by the late Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, Project Linus now operates more than 300 chapters worldwide.

Thanks to Community Hospital Auxiliary member Noni McVey, Monterey County has its own chapter of Project Linus. The chapter’s 130 volunteers supply the county with handmade blankets, 570 of which have already soothed children at Community Hospital.

“In a time when a child feels nothing but clouds in his life,” says McVey, “ he can feel the warmth of a blanket wrap him with a sense of security. It’s not that the medical field doesn’t provide a lot, but it can’t offer a pill that tells a child he’s loved, cared for, safe, and secure. We can give him that through this gesture.”

When an infant was ill and needed intravenous treatment, his 4-yearold brother became extremely distressed at the sight until nurses handed him a Linus blanket, which he clutched throughout his visit. A 14-year-old receiving treatment had brought her own teddy bear for comfort, but she was in a lot of pain. Considering herself too old for a blanket, she accepted a receiving blanket for her bear and took comfort in swaddling him.

“I remember one little boy, probably 5 years old, was quite ill and in pain,” says Carol Coates, R.N., director of Community Hospital’s ICU/CCU and the Emergency Department. “He was going to be fine, but he was miserable. I gave him a choice of blankets, and he chose one with bright primary colors in big, wide stripes. He clutched that blanket and then covered his head and snuggled down into it as his shelter. With all of the children we give blankets to, a light comes on in their eyes, and they are soothed.”

Blankets, given to boys and girls aged newborn to 19 years, must be handmade, washable, and new. They may be any size and style, including but not limited to knitted, crocheted, fleece, quilted, appliquéd, or woven. Upon receipt, McVey stitches a “ Made With Tender Loving Care for Project Linus” label into every blanket.

“Community Hospital is near and dear to my heart,” says McVey. “My children were born there and visited the emergency room when they were injured. The nursing staff is incredible; I thought this would be a way to give the staff another tool to help hurting children.”

McVey is aware that it’s not just the young recipients of these blankets and their families who benefit, but the volunteers who hand-make the blankets, infusing each stitch with love and comfort.

“Individuals, including those who are not part of the Auxiliary,” she says, “have the chance to give something of themselves and be a part of this project by making blankets. Many of my volunteers are housebound, yet they knit and crochet and quilt and sew these beautiful blankets for children simply because they love them.

“Each time I deliver a blanket at the hospital, I write the volunteer to let them know where it has gone. It’s great for everybody involved — the hurting child and her family, the community of people who want to give. All the way around, it’s a wonderful opportunity for service.”

For more information, call Project Linus at 625-0231 or visit the Web site at www.projectlinus.info.