The Project Linus Chapter of Wake County, NC was started in 1996 by Susie Holmes. Over 50,000 blankets have been delivered to many local groups and agencies that help seriously ill or traumatized children who need a HUG from a blanket including: Wake Med Hospitals, Rex Hospital, Duke Hospital NICU, Safe Space (for children of abused women receiving support), Hospice (for their Reflections program for grieving children and teens), Make a Wish Foundation, the children at Salvation Army, Children's Flight of Hope, and Wake County Social Services.



Sunday, January 26, 2014

Project Linus - Did You Know?


Here are some interesting facts and figures about Project Linus, which were compiled by Claire Gliddon, Coordinator Project Linus - Sacramento: 
         Karen Loucks started Project Linus on December 24, 1995.  The Raleigh/Wake County Chapter began in 1996.
         Project Linus nationally has been alive for 6,577 days as of January 1, 2014.
         Project Linus National has had nonprofit status since May 12, 1997.
         The Raleigh/Wake County Chapter of Project Linus donated 2,371 blankets in 2013.  Since we started, we have delivered 27,364 blankets!
         Project Linus nationally has officially collected over 5 million blankets as of January 1, 2014.  If 60% of them are fabric, that translates into over 9 million yards of fabric.  If 40% are afghans, that is over 12 million skeins of yarn.
         If each blanket is an average of 60” long, and we laid them end to end, they would stretch over 25 million feet or 4,735 miles.  That is as tall as 861 Mt. Everests, or 14,077 One World Trade Center 20,000 Empire State Buildings or as long as 83,333 football fields!
         Assuming each delivered blanket so far had a label, the cost for labels would be $150,000.
         As of January 1, 2014, Project Linus has 309 chapters in the United States.  We have 301 wonderful, compassionate coordinators.
         If each of our 301 wonderful compassionate coordinators donates an average of 20 hours per week to their chapter, that would mean about 1,040 hours per year each.  And that’s just coordinators!  Even at minimum wage, 20 hours per week is a salary of $8,320 in donated time per year, per coordinator.  If you are talking about 301 wonderful, compassionate coordinators, it is a value of $2,504,320 per year.
Think you’re not making a financial contribution to Project Linus?  How much is your time worth?  How much are your blankets worth?  Regardless of the monetary value of your time, materials, and completed projects, the comfort that your blankets provide to a sick or scared child is priceless. Thank you all for helping provide a “blanket hug” to children in the Raleigh/Wake County area.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Mark Your Calendar--MABD 2014!


To our wonderful Blanketeers,
Project Linus Make a Blanket Day is coming – Saturday, March 8 at Temple Beth Or in Raleigh from 2-6 PM – a new place and time.
Please see the attached flyer for details.
If you have any questions or would like to help us set up, please email Deanna Winick. Deanna is our MABD coordinator, and can be reached at deanna.winick@gmail.com 
Thank you for your continued support of Project Linus!