First Quarter Newsletter 2017
CHAPTER COORDINATOR’S MESSAGE
We are off to the start of another wonderful Project Linus year. We have new “blanketeers”, new facilities for deliveries and with your help we should be able to meet all of the requests we receive.
Springtime means that we will soon be celebrating our Volunteer Appreciation Tea, which will be on May 19th. Once again it will be at the Lutheran Church of the Nativity from 2:00-4:00. We have been very fortunate to have grown in number this year which means that we will be unable to accommodate everyone. So please don’t wait too late to make a reservation (which is a must) and if you make a reservation and then realize that you will be unable to attend, I hope that you will take the time to call and let us know so that we can give your place to someone on the waiting list. The invitation that you have received with this newsletter has the contact information on it. If you are receiving this by email you can RSVP to the contact listed at the end of the newsletter. We have special things planned, but one of the most important and I think most exciting will be our Community Service Project. We have chosen the first responders of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department to honor for their commitment to providing our community with a safe environment. I am asking you to help us with this project by collecting items that can be placed into goody bags that will be presented to each of the 250 members of the Department. I will need the items before the tea, so reach out to your local grocery store, favorite fast food restaurant, dollar store, etc. and ask for a donation. The list of items is endless, but to name a few: gum, candy, crackers, chips, power bars, pens, pencils, note pads… We have had a wonderful donation from a dentist of 300 toothbrushes and tooth paste. Once you have your items you can call me at 828-645-8800 and we can work out a way to get together. We will be filling the goody bags at the tea.
We will also have our annual craft sale, beautiful raffles, freebies to give out, games and of course delicious goodies to eat along with the tea to drink.
Why do we only rest in peace? Why don’t we live in peace too?
BOOKS FOR GOOD
We continue to receive quarterly checks from one of our biggest supporters, “BOOKS FOR GOOD”, which is in Fletcher. You have been gracious in taking your quality books to their location at 50 Heritage Park Drive and letting them know that they are from Project Linus. They sell them and we get a percentage. SHOP BOOKS for GOOD. Their hours are Monday - Friday 12:00-5:00 and Saturday 10:00-2:00.
MAKE BLANKET DAY
Buncombe County held a very successful “Make a Blanket Day” on Saturday, March 18. We had approximately 75 in attendance and had many blankets turned in as people arrived and we worked on completing many more. This is such a fun event and the venue at Eliada Home is beautiful. It is a way for us to introduce Project Linus to new folks and to gain some new “blanketeers”. Thanks to Sharon Waltman for putting it all together. An extra bonus was having five associates from Kohl’s Department store joining us for the fun. They work hard taking care of any task that needs to be handled. If this isn’t enough Kohl’s reward us with a grant. This year the store doubled the amount and our chapter will receive $1,000. SHOP KOHL’S!!!!!
SUPPLIES
In reading this you can see that we are being blessed with some wonderful donations. This money goes back into the operation of our chapter. However, if you know of someone who feels as though they can’t join us in making blankets due to the burden of purchasing supplies I would like them to know that we can help. They just must reach out to me.
OPERATION PURPLE
We are getting closer to the dates for Operation Purple. If you are new to this newsletter let me explain. Camp Purple is a week- long camp for military children to come together for a week of fun and to connect with other kids like themselves. Children who have had parents deployed, returning home injured or perhaps not coming home at all. One of these camps will be in Hendersonville at Camp Bob located on the Kanuga Conference Center grounds. During the two sessions, they will host 200 campers. We have offered to provide a blanket for each child. The ages of the children are 7-16 so a large blanket is what will be needed. Connie and Herb Stanfield have been working with the camp director and in one of their conversations she mentioned that she is also having a week camp for children who have parents that are incarcerated. Of course, we also want these children to have a new blanket. So I now ask for help, as this means that we will need an additional 300 blankets to go along with the 300-350 that we give out each month. We are collecting them now, but the July 5th work session will be the last date.
JOHNSON AND JOHNSON
I had the opportunity to meet with 70 sales representatives of Johnson and Johnson while they attended their annual sales meeting in Asheville. They participated in a community service event during this time and they chose Project Linus to be the beneficiary. They purchased enough fleece to make 60 large blankets.
PLEASE DO NOT....
Allow your beautiful blanket to come in contact with any of your beloved pets. We have received several blankets that have been covered in cat hair. This is not acceptable and the blankets can’t be given out. Some of the children that we work with are in a compromised health situation and pet dander and smell could be very harmful to them. If you launder your blanket, make sure to use unscented detergent and fabric softeners.
If you would like to be on our email list, send your request to Helen McConnell at:
jhmcconnell@bellsouth.net
BLANKET DROP OFF SITES
Asheville:
A.C. Moore Craft Store
River Ridge Shopping Center
Hendersonville:
Grace Lutheran Church
1245 Sixth Avenue, West
Joann Fabrics of Hendersonville
Blue Ridge Mall
1800 Four Seasons Blvd.
(leave at the cutting counter)
FIRST QUARTER STATISTICS
In Out
January 153 402
February 282 340
March 367 424
1st Quarter Totals: 802 1,166
With these latest numbers. Our local chapter has now distributed 61,316 blankets!
Number of knitted dolls donated and distributed
this quarter: 97
Weighted blankets donated to date: 862
CONTACTS:
Chapter Coordinator
Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800
Buncombe County Contact
Sharon Waltman 828-645-7190
Cherokee, Clay, and Graham County Contact
Pam Carman 828-321-4172
Haywood County Contact
Mariam Howell 828-456-5154
Henderson County Contact
Helen McConnell 828-890-3067
Jackson and Macon County Contact
Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800
Madison County Contact
Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800
Mitchell County Contact
Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800
Transylvania County Contact
Pat Crawford 828-883-8746
Yancey County Contact
Asta Jeffcoat 828-682-4373
National web site: www.projectlinus.org
WNC Chapter website: www.projectlinusofwnc.org
“When you make a commitment, you build hope…. when you keep it, you build trust”?