Starting with February, Share5 is proud to bring you a monthly suggestion for a project you can do with your family to help you grow in compassion, sacrifice, passion, teamwork, or leadership while serving others too! Since February 20th is National Make a Blanket Day, what better project to kick off this new tradition than making a no-sew fleece blanket for a hospitalized or seriously ill child?

In the following video, we will show you how to turn 1 yd of fleece fabric (often available as a remnant at your local fabric store) into a pair of fringed fleece baby blankets to be distributed by Project Linus! (be sure to check with your local Project Linus chapter to see what they have the greatest need of.  Some may need 1/2 yd baby blankets, while others may prefer larger blankets for youth and teens!)

Comfort a Child with a Project Linus Blanket! from Share5 by WorldWins on Vimeo.

Project Linus is an organization whose mission is to provides love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.”

Making a fleece blanket is a simple way for a family to practice compassion, sacrifice, passion, and teamwork while providing a great volunteer opportunity to you and a blanket to a child in need.

This video will give you the basics of how to fringe a no-sew fleece blanket for Project Linus by showing the fringing of a 1/2 yard baby blanket. You can also make blankets for teens by using a full 2 yards of fabric!

We did a family blanket night recently, and along with the kids doing 2 baby blankets each, we were also able to create a teen boys blanket (navy blue with guitars), a teen girls blanket (white with bright flowers) and a third teen blanket (blue, brown, and yellow print). Each full-sized teen blanket was made from a full 2 yards of fleece.

This project really came home for us as we were sharing the story with one of our board members recently. When I told him about Project Linus, he said, “That’s where my grandson’s blanket came from!” Three years ago his grandson, a high-school basketball player, had emergency brain surgery and received a basketball-print blanket. He still has the blanket today.

Take the time to make a blanket this month for the Project Linus chapter nearest you. The life you impact with your small gift of love may come home closer than you think. Regardless, isn’t it a small price to pay to put a smile on the face of a child?