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  • ORMC Staff Nurse Carol McGhee and Project Linus Oconee Regional Chapter Coordinator Cookie Noel show off a few of the 21 donated blankets given to the pediatrics department Tuesday. Vaishali Patel

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August 4, 2010

Nonprofit provides security, love through blankets

Vaishali Patel The Union-Recorder

MILLEDGEVILLE — A nonprofit organization has been wrapping seriously ill and traumatized children with warmth, love and comfort with handmade blankets, giving away more than 5,000 quilted, knitted, crocheted and embellished blankets and afghans for the past decade throughout the community.

Local volunteers, known as “blanketeers,” have already donated more than 400 blankets this year to children up to age 18 through the Oconee Regional Chapter of Project Linus in hopes to reach the 1,000 mark by the end of 2010. Chapter Coordinator Cookie Noel said collected blankets are distributed to children in social service agencies, hospitals, shelters and funeral homes.

“Bulk of them go to various departments in [Oconee Regional Medical Center] that see kids, like the emergency department, same day surgery and pediatrics. We also give blankets to Hospice Care Options, [the Department of Family and Children Services] in [Baldwin] county and Wilkinson County, the hospital in Washington County and the American Red Cross,” she said. “The blankets we do here stay here. Our whole purpose is to serve local needs first because people who are making blankets are making them for friends and neighbors.”

Named after the blanket-toting character from the Peanuts comic strip, Project Linus takes in new, handmade, washable blankets made with child-friendly colors and materials.

“It can be as small as a 16 inch square to adult size, but all blankets have to be handmade or has to have a personal touch. Anyone can make a blanket. The youngest blanket-maker was 6 years old and the oldest was 90,” Noel said. “You shouldn’t worry about making the blanket perfect. The quick techniques that people use are good because we need a lot. We want kids to use the blankets, not put it on their wall for display.”

No matter the temperature or season, there is always a perfect blanket for every child, Noel added.

“It could be 98 degree out and they would wrap up in those blankets,” she said. “I remember I went to the pediatric department one time because they didn’t have a blanket for a girl that was 13. I gave a blanket to her and you could see her grin from ear to ear.”

With help from Co-Coordinators Lisa Cantrell and Cathy Thompson and a little more than 15 volunteers, Noel said the Baldwin County community has also donated their time to stitch one-of-a-kind blankets.

“There are a number of churches that make blankets in the area and from out of town. Eagle Ridge Elementary School and [Georgia College & State University] has donated some,” she said. “What I love about Project Linus is that the people who make the blankets do it out of love. People do it because they care, and that by itself is real motivating. I just hope for more blankets and to have more volunteers because it’s really great.”

As August marks the 10th anniversary since the founding of the Milledgeville chapter, members will celebrate at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, during the regular monthly blanket day meeting in the ORMC Education Center.

“We will show a Project Linus video, have a scrapbook and people will bring in blankets that are ready to process and wrap. We’ll have lunch from Goody Gallery and have a birthday cake from Ryals Bakery,” Noel said. “This is a big milestone for us. Everyone is welcome to come, but you don’t have to come to the meeting to participate.”

For more information about Project Linus, visit www.projectlinus.org or call Noel at (478) 454-8258 to donate a blanket. Blanket donations can be dropped off at ORMC’s front desk or the GIVE Center at Georgia College.

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