Sheron Johnson believes a blanket can provide more than just
warmth. It can offer a sense of security and inner warmth to
children, especially those who are seriously ill or
traumatized.
Sheron Johnson believes a blanket can provide more than just warmth. It can offer a sense of security and inner warmth to children, especially those who are seriously ill or traumatized.
Such was the situation in 1999 when Johnson’s 3-year-old grandson Christopher Faraone was undergoing treatment for cancer at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University Medical Center.
For a year, Johnson helped Christopher through chemotherapy and frequent hospital stays. She made him a blanket to comfort him during the trauma, which he cherished and always had with him until he died in February 2000.
“He looked forward to being covered with the blanket and cuddling and saying, I’m all comfy,” she said. “He’d look for it, and if it had to be in the washer and dryer we’d have to switch blankets around.”
Because of the comfort and security the blanket gave to Christopher during his travail, Johnson now wants to reach out to other children in traumatic situations – with blankets.
She helped create a new chapter in Hollister of Project Linus, a non-profit organization that provides hand-made blankets to children in need of extra comfort.
“I thought this is something I need to do so I’m sure that kids in need get the security blanket,” Johnson said. “And I thought it was such a wonderful program that I would really like to give to that, having seen all the suffering of cancer kids at the Stanford Children’s Hospital.”
Project Linus is named after the blanket-toting character from the “Peanuts” comic strip. Blankets are made by volunteers and each carries a tag showing the classic Linus pose – holding his blanket to his head, sucking his thumb.
“Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz introduced the blanket as Linus’ talisman in the late 1950s. A decade later Schulz published a best-selling book, “Happiness is a Thumb and a Blanket,” with a blissful Linus on the cover, blanket in hand and thumb in mouth.
Project Linus has 300 chapters nationwide including 24 chapters in California and has distributed more than 600,000 blankets to children. There are chapters in Monterey and Santa Clara and, as of last weekend, San Benito County.
“For some reason, a hug of a blanket tends to reassure in a way nothing else does,” said Mary Balagna, national vice president of Project Linus. “Wrapping these blankets around them works some kind of special magic and creates a barrier and makes them feel better.”
As a project coordinator, Johnson will recruit “blanketeers” to begin the process of making blankets and do outreach to local organizations such as Hazel Hawkins Hospital, the San Benito County chapter of the American Red Cross, the Compassion Pregnancy Center and the Hollister Fire Department.
Members of a local quilting guild are anxious to be begin working on new blankets for children, Johnson said.
Johnson discovered Project Linus while watching a TV program called “Simply Quilts” and immediately wanted to be a part of the organization.
“My heart was just touched and I knew this is what I have to do,” she said.
After a three-month application process, Johnson was notified last week that she could form the Hollister chapter of Project Linus.
The organization was started in 1995 by Karen Loucks after reading an article about a girl who was comforted by a blanket through her chemotherapy. Loucks recruited some friends and began supplying blankets to children at a local cancer care center.
The organization has gotten calls from people in other countries who want to start their own chapters, but officials want Project Linus to remain in the United States.
“I thought it was such a wonderful thing to be part of such an organization,” Johnson said. “Blankets provide comfort. It’s something that’s secure, something soft.”
Project Linus accepts blankets of all styles and sizes, but they must be new, hand-made and washable. For more information contact Sheron Johnson at 637-2971.
