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Second Quarter Newsletter, June 2023

CHAPTER COORDINATOR’S MESSAGE, Ellen Knoefel


We just completed a busy second quarter here in WNC and we will not let summer heat slow us down. Hoping each of you will take the time to enjoy and appreciate this wonderful area of the country that we call home.


In April we held our Make a Blanket Day with 50 in attendance. Over 100 blankets were turned in as we enjoyed renewing old friendships and developing new ones. There is no such thing as a PL event without lots of good food and we certainly had plenty. As you read this newsletter you will see that there are two more special events coming up and we hope you will join us in the fun. We need help with each of these and as you read, I hope you will call and offer your services. The invitation for the Ice Cream Social will be sent in August and a reservation will be necessary.


VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION EVENT This year’s event will be held on Wednesday September 20 from 2:00-4:00. The location is the Lutheran Church of the Nativity at the corner of Airport Road and Hendersonville Road. We always look forward to this special day to recognize all the efforts that you have put forth in making the WNC Chapter of Project Linus such a vibrant one. We will again this year be treated to the yummy ice cream from Howdy’s Homemade Ice Cream, whose mission is to help give work opportunity to those with special needs. We will have entertainment and our wonderful raffle. We will have a craft sale with items made by our volunteers. If you wish to donate items to be sold, we will need these items no later than our monthly work session (September 6th) and you will need to price them. RUMMAGE SALE We will be holding a rummage sale on Saturday October 21 from 9:00-2:00. The location will be First Congregational Church located at 1735 5th Avenue West in Hendersonville. Please check your closets, drawers, attic, garage etc., for all those items that you no longer need but are still in good condition. Money raised from this event will enable us to continue purchasing supplies and keep our chapter up and running. We will NOT be accepting clothes, electronics or heavy furniture, but would love to have your holiday items, toys, pet items, household items, baked goods, jewelry, clothing accessories (belts, purses, scarves, etc.)) well I think you get the idea. We will be at the church on Friday the 20th (hours to be announced) to accept items which you will need to price before dropping off. We will be using colored sticker and can provide you with them when you are ready. If that Friday doesn’t work for you call Ellen at 828-645-8800 to make other arrangements. Our Romella has taken on the responsibility of handling the rummage sale and any questions you have regarding this; contact her at 828-890-4889. Updates In last quarter’s newsletter we wrote about the precious Cecelia who had a project Linus blanket. There was concern about the fact that Cecelia wasn’t gaining any weight. This quarter we can happily report that she is doing fine once she was changed to a soy-based formula instead of breast milk. I wish all problems could be solved, read on. SADNESS IN THE MOUNTAINS In April I received a text from blanket maker Karen McCracken that a 12-year-old in Haywood County had taken his life and she was wondering if we could deliver blankets to his classmates. Marian Howell is our contact gal in that area, and I reached out to her, in her efficient manner, in twenty minutes she contacted the principal and was told that they would be delighted to have those blanket hugs. Her daughter had been in a similar situation 20 years ago and knows how much that blanket can mean to the child and parent. She requested 75 blankets for all the six graders and two for the siblings. Due to your wonderful donations, we were able to load up the car and head to the school. I recently received thank you notes from each of those kids which touched the heart. Here is what one of the teachers wrote.

A week later I received another text from Karen, this time it was a middle school student at Owen Middle School. I delivered a blanket to the High School where his sister was a student getting ready to graduate. Special thanks to Karen for letting Project Linus know of these situations as we would not have been able to provide this love and support without her. I am reaching out to each of you with the same message. If you know of an occasion where a blanket is needed, please let us know. We do a wonderful job of delivering to all the individual facilities but have no way of knowing about other needs. FABRIC SCRAPS It is with a heavy heart that I let everyone know that we have lost a very dedicated blanket maker, Eydie Sloan was one of a kind, a tough lady who faced every adversary with a positive attitude and a determination not to let anything get it her way or stop her. Finally in March her body had enough, and she moved on. She was a fabric artist with her masterpieces entered into shows all over the world, placing in many of them. She always found time to help someone else and that is what she did with all our collected scraps. Anyone who uses a sewing machine knows that scraps seem to multiply just while sitting. Edyie would take all our scraps and use them to make dog beds for many shelters in WNC. We are hoping that someone out there would like to have the scraps to continue this mission. If you or if you know of someone who can put the scraps to use, please contact Ellen at 828-645-8800. FLEECE Those of you who donate fleece blankets do know that they are loved and appreciated. The patterns are so child friendly and the finished product so soft. There are several requirements that we like to see followed when these are being made. The selvage edge needs to always be removed. These are the two edges of your fleece that is on the outside edges of the fabric. Secondly, I just listened to a podcast from our leader Patty Gregory where she was talking about the fleece blankets and the fact that so many hospitals will not accept them if they are two layers. The reason being that they are so heavy and too hot for a sick child to handle, especially one that might have fever. So, I ask that you only make single layer blankets. You can get two blankets for the same price if you do this. BOOKS FOR GOOD Please remember to shop at this used bookstore, located at 50 Heritage Park Drive in Fletcher. It is a blessing to so many nonprofits in our area. As many of you know, they accept used books in good condition in the name of a specific charity. When the books sell, a percentage of the sale goes back to the charity. At this time due to crowed shelves they are only accepting new books (published in the past two years) or paperback books. They receive many donations and can only accept one box of books at a time. Their hours are 12-5 Monday-Friday and 10-2 on Saturday. Please help them out by stopping by the store and encouraging others to do the same. E-MAIL ADDRESSES We are now communicating by email and hope that we have all your addresses. I have a list of those that don’t use the computer and will continue to mail out the newsletter to you. If you know of someone who hasn’t received the notices sent out by Helen McConnell, please let Ellen know and we will add this to our list. There are times when we realize that we no longer want to receive different emails. If you find yourself in this situation, no problem, once again let Ellen know and she will see that you are removed from the list. Many thanks to Helen for the good job she does keeping us informed.

 

WHEN YOUR TALENT INTERSECTS WITH HUMAN NEED YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE!

 

MONTHLY WORK SESSIONS We are still meeting on the first Wednesday of the month at the Lutheran Church of the Nativity in Arden. We are meeting from 1:00 until 3:00. We don’t work on making blankets but process all those that have been received during the month, getting them ready for distribution. We would love to have you join us. During this time, we have donated articles for you to pick up. We have added an addition to this table, a “kitty bank, although we consider this a freebie table we are asking if you have extra change that you would consider dropping into the kitty with all money going toward the purchase of supplies. We now have a table with fleece and batting available for $2.00 apiece. The fleece is precut, in pieces “60” x “90”. This is a huge savings from what you would purchase at a retail establishment. We will put the $$$ toward the purchase of more of these items.

 

BLANKET DROP-OFF SITES


Asheville: JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store 80 S Tunnel Road Asheville Cotton Company 1378 Hendersonville Road STE B Hendersonville: Grace Lutheran Church 1245 Sixth Avenue West JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store Blue Ridge Mall Shopping Center Sheridan Kay Quilting 1680 Spartanburg Highway Weaverville: 5 Little Monkeys Quilt and Sew 32 North Main Street


FOURTH QUARTER STATISTICS In Out April 367 328 May 474 368 June 349 427 Second Quarter Totals 1,190 1,123 With these latest numbers our chapter has now distributed 91,1729 blankets! COUNTY CONTACTS Chapter Coordinator Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800


Buncombe County Ennis Julian 702-499-3567 Cherokee, Clay, and Graham Counties Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800 Haywood County Mariam Howell 828-456-5154 Henderson County Sue Swavely 843-478-9090 Jackson and Macon Counties Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800 Madison County Nancy Fish 828-768-1344 McDowell County Mary Ledbetter maryledbetter@hotmail.com Mitchell County Janet Jackson 661-319-8286 Transylvania County Pat Crawford 828-883-8746 Yancy County Vicki Fox 828-680-9167



Attn: Ellen Knoefel 10 Highland Pointe Drive

Weaverville, NC 28787

Phone (home) 828-645-8800

(cell) 828-231-9490

Newsletter editor: Laura Moore



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