More than 5,000 blankets. That’s the tally for the Durango chapter of Project Linus since its founding in 2001.
The blankets – quilted, crocheted, knitted, sewn or tied (or a combination of the above) – are created to bring caring and warmth to all kinds of children.
These creative and crafty people have made blankets for law enforcement and emergency responders to give to traumatized children, sent them to kids affected by natural disasters from Hurricane Katrina to Superstorm Sandy, and donated them to little ones in our community.
Last year, the natural disaster struck close to home with the flooding on the Front Range. Project Linus coordinator Regina Hogan and her husband, Dan, lived in Coal Creek Canyon for many years before moving to Durango, and that small mountain community near Boulder was completely cut off after the roads collapsed in the area.
So it was particularly meaningful to them to deliver 25 blankets to the hard-hit community to be distributed in Thanksgiving baskets.
At Project Linus’ December meeting, Roseann McDermott, executive director of the La Plata Family Centers Coalition, talked about how important the blankets are to the coalition’s Bright Beginnings Program. It helps lower-income new mothers enter the bewildering maze of parenting with educational materials, support resources and, of course, the bright beautiful blankets created by the loving hands of Project Linus volunteers. The blankets also help the coalition’s staff reinforce a personal connection with their families.
The coalition works with more than 2,000 families a year, and Project Linus, which donated 140 blankets to Bright Beginnings in 2013, has now made a commitment to also create blankets for toddlers and young children for use in the centers’ other programs. (Project Linus crossed the 1,000-blanket mark with Bright Beginnings donations in 2013.)
Project Linus has about 20 active members here, many of them in their 80s and 90s living on fixed incomes. They put in countless hours, but they need us to contribute, too. To ensure the safety of the recipients, all blankets are made from completely new materials. The cost of the materials, from yarn to fabric to batting, is substantial.
In 2013, longtime supporter La Plata Quilters Guild, the Walmart Foundation, Kiwanis Club of Durango, Sisters of the Western Slope, the Mail Room, Christ the King Lutheran Church and a number of generous people donated to the cause.
Hogan tells me that it’s always a struggle to keep Project Linus funded. But having read some of the thank-you notes and heard stories of kids’ eyes lighting up when receiving their blankets, I have no doubt they make a real difference.
If you would like to support Project Linus, donations may be sent to 60 Baranca Drive, Durango, CO 81301.
HHH
Celebrating joyous January birthdays this week are Pat Roberts, Pam Furze, Hannah Pilmack, Barb Washburn, Bonnie Hermesman, Keith Widder, Steve Lavengood, Niki Bryant, Izzy Bryant, Dorothy DiFelice, Dorothy Shank, Juliet Loftis, Mel Owen, Jan Patton, Jeremiah Stancompiano, Mick Souder and Jane Periman.
Special greetings go to my Scrabble buddy, Susie Ammann.
HHH
I have written more than once about the Engineers without Borders chapter at Fort Lewis College and the Shanta Foundation. Both organizations have a model that makes a real, long-lasting impact on subsistence-level villages in Third World countries, and both will be represented on a panel at the Lifelong Learning Series’ kickoff for spring 2014 at 7 p.m. Thursday in Noble Hall Room 130 at FLC.
Don May from Engineers without Borders and Mike Karpfen from the Shanta Foundation will be joined by Jim Nowak from Ridgway’s dZi Foundation to talk about the work they are doing in Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Ecuador and Nicaragua.
These men and their programs demonstrate that there is something we can do, and we can do it with groups based right here in Southwest Colorado.
HHH
While I’m thinking about the Professional Associates series (and, coincidentally enough, the Shanta Foundation), I discovered in mid-December that the third time really is the charm.
I was unable to attend Judith Reynolds’ lecture on opera in the fall Professional Associates series because I was on assignment at the Shanta Foundation dinner. When she reprised it for another group in the Lyceum at the Center of Southwest Studies, I was, you guessed it, on assignment again.
So when I managed to steal away for her third shot at the lecture for Camerata, the Durango Chapter of the American Association of University Women’s discussion group that considers all things related to the arts, it truly felt like a charmed moment.
And, as always, I walked away knowing so much more than I did going in.
For example, there are many types of opera, depending on when it was composed, including buffo, 18th-century comedies with regular people; seria, also from the 18th century, featuring gods, goddesses, royalty and nobility; semi-seria; comique, which isn’t necessarily as funny as it sounds, because “Carmen,” which is about as tragic as they come, is considered comique; the Grand Opera romantic tradition of the 19th century; operettas (Gilbert & Sullivan, anyone?); and the American musical, which is our form of opera.
Judy Hook recommended that those folks who are intimidated by opera might want to start with the musical form and then transition to the opera that inspired it. A good example is “Miss Saigon,” to be followed by “Madame Butterfly.”
In a horrible factoid, Reynolds said castration before puberty to maintain a boy’s pure soprano voice was still happening as late as 1930. At its height, as many as 4,000 Italian boys a year were being offered up for castration by their parents because for the few who made it big, fame and fortune would follow.
Reynolds tells me she had so much good information left over after putting this lecture together that she’s planning a second act, so to speak, so all of us can learn more about this fascinating art form.
HHH
It’s out with the poinsettias and in with the red roses for the anniversary of Vic and JoAnn Sanderfer.
