Blanket statement

COLUMBIA BASIN — Blankets are small things, but for a child who’s been through a hard time, a blanket can be a real comfort, and the folks with Project Linus aim to make sure there are always plenty of blankets on hand. 

Project Linus, named for the blanket-toting boy in the comic strip “Peanuts,” was started in Denver in 1995, and since then has put more than 9.3 billion handmade blankets in the hands of traumatized and ill children around the world.  

Of course, the three eastern Washington chapters, in Ephrata, Tri-Cities and Yakima, don’t put out anywhere near that volume, but it’s still impressive. 

“I see anywhere from 400 to 500 a year,” said Belinda Chambers, coordinator of the Ephrata chapter of Project Linus. 

“(We have) from 100 to 125 a month,” said Laura Kuprat, who coordinates the Tri-Cities chapter. “And then once a quarter, I deliver anywhere from 80 to 150 blankets to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital in Spokane, because their chapter shut down several years ago and nobody's picked it up, so they have a great need for blankets there.” 

Most of the blankets are made at home by volunteers who bring them in and drop them off. In Ephrata, the drop-off place is The Fabric Patch, and people come from all over Grant County to donate, Chambers said. 

“They come from Grand Coulee, they come from Wenatchee,” Chambers said. There are about 20 local sewers in the local group, she said.  

“A good portion of my volunteers I’ve never met,” Kuprat said. “They make blankets for us and drop them off at our various drop-off locations and I pick them up there, and then we distribute them to the various agencies.” 

Both chapters hold Make-a-Blanket days once a month. In Ephrata, there are usually five or six people who come on the third Saturday of every month to St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church with a sack lunch and a sewing machine. 

The Tri-Cities, being bigger, has 20-25 people in its Project Linus chapter, Kuprat said. 

“We’re mostly sewers, but we have a few knitters and crocheters,” she said. “We just sew on quilts or afghans, have a potluck lunch, sew a little more and go home.” 

The chapter also supports a monthly quilting session at the Richland library, Kuprat said. 

A lot of the sewers are retired, both coordinators said, but not all. 

“I had a little boy years ago, he was about 10,” Chambers said. “He wanted to learn to quilt and his mother had no knowledge, and his grandma was trying to help him. Grandma would drop him off (at Make-a-Blanket Day). He was there for about a year and a half, and he learned a lot from us.” 

The blankets from Ephrata go to agencies all over north central and northeastern Washington, Chambers said: New Hope/Kids Hope in Grant and Adams counties; the Washington Department of Children and Family Services in Grant, Adams, Douglas and Chelan counties; Crossroads Resource Center in Moses Lake and Ephrata; Sage Advocacy Center in Wenatchee; and a program in Okanogan County that puts together suitcases for children in foster care.  

“Our agencies are hospitals and any agencies that support children,” Kuprat said. “Once a year we deliver double-tied fleece blankets to the Royal Family Kids Camp, for foster kids who get to go to a summer camp. I think this year (we took) 36 but we’ve gone up to 50 before.” 

The whole thing is at no cost to volunteers, and in fact, Project Linus supplies patterns, fabric and batting. The coordinators raise money, Kuprat said, and that goes to materials with a little set aside to support the national organization. 

Quilting and sewing are arts that a lot of young people don’t learn, Chambers said. 

“They don’t teach it in school anymore,” she said. “You’ve got to have a family member that takes an interest. I was over in Quincy at (Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day) and I had my sewing machine set up, and the kids stood there and just watched me and watched me and watched me. It was just so intriguing to them.” 

For more information, visit www.ProjectLinus.org. 

Project Linus Make-a-Blanket Day 

Ephrata: Third Saturday of every month at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, 750 First Ave. NW, next to the canal. Info: Belinda Chambers, 509-754-3792. 

Tri-Cities: First Saturday of every month at Quinault Baptist Church, 5400 W. Canal Drive, Kennewick. Info: Laura Kuprat, 509-554-6140 or tcprojectlinus@gmail.com. 

    Belinda Chambers sews a blanket for the Ephrata chapter of Project Linus in 2013. The chapter has been going since 2004, and Chambers took over as coordinator in 2008, she said.