My friend who is a member of my quilt guild, is the Chairperson of our county's Linus Chapter. I started working with it probably two years ago. I make at least 20 simple Linus quilts a month. We have only one hospital in our county but are in the area sourrounding Baltimore, Md which has at least half a dozen major hospitals including John's Hopkins. Our groups of local Linus volunteers produces at least 600+ quilts, crocheted, knitted or fleace comfort blankets each and every month. The little cloth label that signifies that this is a Linus Quilt has a picture of Linus clutching his comfort blanket. We sew it to each and every donation and add a hangtag that tells who made the item. A small group of us get together once a month to sort and bag up the donations to be sent to the local hospitals. We have an amazing amount of people who donate their time, energy and gasoline to deliver the finished quilts either to us or the hospitals and other institutions who recived them. I try and make my contributions as simple and sturdy as possible. I know that non quilters dont know how to properly care for a quilt. I always use flannel on the back of my cloth quilts and a bright, cheerful child friendly print on the front. If I make them from fleace I crochet an edge around all four sides to add a personal touch.
Technically each child is only supposed to be given a Linus quilt in the hospital etc. once. I know from thank you notes that I have recieved that is not always the case. It is hard to deny a child who is sick or in pain that little bit of comfort when they are going through the trauma of the ER etc.
Hopfully the quilts that were sent to the school children will be a reminder that others care about them and that all strangers are not evil and wish them harm.