First Quarter Newsletter, March 2019

CHAPTER COORDINATOR’S MESSAGE

This year has started out to be a busy one with lots of wonderful things happening. We began with participating in the Junior League of Asheville’s Volunteer Faire. This gave us an opportunity to reach out to a new audience and we were fortunate to meet new “blanketeers” and pick up several new agencies. In March we held our Buncombe County Make a Blanket Day. A day of fellowship, friendship, food, fun and of course blanket making. We are grateful to Eliada Home for letting us use their beautiful facility which even comes with a grand piano. Therefore, as in the past years, we enjoyed the beautiful music of our talented crochet artist and accomplished musician, Dave Bates. Once again, the wonderful associates from Kohl’s joined us and they kept very busy helping with setup, getting lunch ready, making blankets, and lifting a hand wherever needed. We will also be receiving a grant of $500.00 from Kohl’s, which goes a long way toward meeting our expenses during the year.

The next special event scheduled is our annual Volunteer Appreciation Tea, which will be held at the Lutheran Church of the Nativity at 2:00 on Wednesday, April 24th. We have a special afternoon planned that will include guest speakers, wonderful raffle items, a craft sale, many free items, delicious goodies and, of course, tea. You are receiving this newsletter and invitation because you made a donation to the WNC Chapter of Project Linus in the past year. We hope that you will be able to join us, but a reservation is a must, as we can only accommodate a certain number of guests, so call or email your RSVP now. Also, we ask that if you do make a reservation and find that you are unable to attend please call or email and let us know so that we can give someone on the waiting list the opportunity to attend.

VOLUNTEER CRAFT SALE

We would love to have you join in the craft sale at the tea by donating an item or two that you have made. Money raised from this sale helps with our yearly expenses. We are always looking for a variety of reasonably priced items. You can bring your items the day of the tea and we will place them on the tables.

TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY MAKE A BLANKET DAY

This event will be held from 10:00 - 12:00 on Friday, April 5th at Davidson River Hall, Brevard-Davidson River Church in Brevard. Free fabric kits and fleece will be available for Project Linus blankets. On Friday April 12th completed blankets can be returned to the same place between 10:00-12:00. If you need more time, blankets can be turned in at a later date. Refreshments and a time of sharing among blanket makers will be provided. The kits contain fabric and batting with complete instructions for assembling. Lengths of no sew fleece will also be available

For more information, or to donate money, fabric or yarn, call Pat Crawford at 828-883-8746.

THANK YOU NOTE

We do not receive a lot of notes, but when one comes to the PO BOX and contains a name, I make sure and forward it on to the blanket maker. This one came by email and since it didn’t reference an individual, I want to share it and hope that you will each consider it your own and know what a difference you can make.

“Hello, my name is……my son recently had to go thru two surgeries for his arm, he is 14 which is an awkward age for a boy. He thinks he’s too grown for his mom but inside he is a scared boy when it comes to some things. Surgery was scary for him, after the second one he received a lovely quilt. It’s brown patchy with woodland animals, well he loves it! We left the hospital and he didn’t let it go for weeks, stayed wrapped up in it, I truly believe that it gave him real comfort after the surgery.

Thank you so much for it. The nurse gave me your email, so I just had to thank you. We will keep it forever.”

Very heart-warming, isn’t it.

BLANKET SIZES

As the no sew fleece blankets grow in popularity our donations of large blankets have greatly exceeded our small and medium blankets. The fleece comes 60” wide and 1 ½ yards of fabric and makes a perfect size large. If you try to cut it down the middle, you end up with what looks like a table runner and not a blanket hug. All this is understandable, but we must work on getting some other size blankets. Please consider these sizes when quilting, knitting, crocheting, or making one some other way.

BLANKET DROP-OFF SITES

Asheville:

A.C. Moore Craft Store

River Ridge Shopping Center

Weaverville:

5 Little Monkeys Quilt and Sew

32 North Main Street

Hendersonville:

Grace Lutheran Church

1245 Sixth Avenue West

FRIENDSHIP ISN’T A BIG THING………. IT’S A MILION LITTLE THINGS.

FIRST QUARTER STATISTICS

In Out

January 265 315

February 466 348

March 384 358

First Quarter Totals 1,115 991

With these latest numbers our chapter has now distributed 71,591 blankets!

Number of knitted dolls and small animals donated and distributed this quarter: 199

Weighted blankets donated to date: 1,144

CONTACTS

Chapter Coordinator

Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800

Buncombe County

Ennis Julian 702-499-3567

Cherokee, Clay and Graham Counites

Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800

Haywood County

Mariam Howell 828-456-5154

Henderson County

Helen McConnell 828-890-3067

Jackson and Macon Counties

Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800

Madison County

Ellen Knoefel 828-645-8800

Mitchell County

Janet Jackson 661-319-8286

Transylvania County

Pat Crawford 828-883-8746

Yancy County

Asta Jeffcoat 828-682-4373