Last year, the 7 oldest Jackson kids decided that instead of picking names for Christmas gifts, we would pool our money each year and give it to a charity. We would take turns picking the charity, going down the line from oldest to youngest, and then starting over again. Since I am the second oldest, this year was my turn.
I wanted to pick an organization that 1) was local, 2) would be something my kids would understand, and 3) would have some sort of opportunity for the kids to be part of the giving. I did some research and found Project Linus to be a perfect fit. Project Linus (named after the Charlie Brown character Linus) provides blankets to kids who have been through something traumatic - a house fire, an illness, etc... There are chapters all over the USA, including one here in Fort Wayne. All of the blankets made by volunteers in this area go to kids in Fort Wayne and surrounding towns. Samuel and Becca each have their own special blankets, so the idea of making blankets for other kids was something they could grasp. And we made no-sew fleece blankets so they were actually able to help make the blankets (although, disclaimer here - they got bored after a little while, so they did help, but it's not like they made entire blankets on their own.)
We ended up splitting up the money we had to work with - we used half to buy fleece, and gave the other half directly to Project Linus so they could buy whatever supplies would be the most helpful to them. The fabric we bought was enough to make 10 blankets. Project Linus uses blankets in 3 different sizes - baby, kid, and pre-teen/teen. Before I bought the fleece, I asked which size blankets they were most in need of, and they said they are almost always running low on the pre-teen/teen size, so that's what we made.
In case anyone ever wants to make blankets for them, it's really easy. I bought 1.5 yards of fabric for each blanket, cut off the uneven ends, and then used the directions found here. A lady at the Project Linus chapter here even gave me a plastic template to use for cutting the fringe all the same length.
This was a fun thing to do with the kids this year. Here are some pictures of the finished blankets:
