EVERETT — She’s comforted Snohomish County through some of the toughest times.
In the past year alone, Diane Campbell has organized efforts to make and deliver hundreds of blankets to children affected by the deadly Oso mudslide and the shootings at Marysville Pilchuck High School.
She started the Snohomish County chapter of Project Linus, a national organization that donates blankets to children who have experienced trauma, in 2004. By Campbell’s count, the local group has given away 17,705 blankets.
Most stay in Snohomish County but occasionally the group sends blankets to children affected by disasters elsewhere, she said.
Campbell, of Everett, calls about 50 local volunteers who make work with the group regularly “blanketeers.” Many others sew occasionally or donate supplies.
The blankets are made specifically for boys or girls. The size depends on the child’s age. After they pass a thorough cleaning and inspection process, they are delivered to hospitals and groups that work with children after they have experienced a trauma.
Campbell, who raised four children of her own, does not often get to see the comfort that comes with the blankets. She rarely receives thanks.
“You just know that blanket is special. It’s security,” she said. “It’s their blanket. It’s something of their own that they can hold onto.”
After five teens died and another was seriously injured in the shootings at Marysville Pilchuck High School in October, Campbell called to make sure counselors knew that comfort was on the way. She organized other chapters in getting more than 500 blankets to students in Marysville.
Campbell also reached out to schools after 43 people were killed when a mudslide covered a square-mile of the North Fork Stillaguamish River Valley in March. She brought about 100 blankets to Oso for children, including Jacob Spillers, the 4-year-old boy who was pulled out of the debris in a helicopter. He lost his dad and sisters in the mudslide.
No matter what the disaster, Campbell said, explaining how blankets help is always a challenge. But attitudes usually changes once the children get the blankets.
“Then they see the kids are comforted by wrapping that blanket around them,” she said.
Campbell has been sewing since she was a girl. She still makes a few blankets a year but she now spends most of her time collecting donated supplies and organizing the group.
Eventually, Campbell would like to provide enough blankets so every police car and fire truck in Snohomish County has one available to give to a child in need.
People can drop off donations for Project Linus at Pacific Fabrics and the Needle &I in Everett. Countryside Sewing and Vacuum in Monroe also takes in supplies for the group.
The local chapter has several work parties each month and holds make-a-blanket days three times a year. The next one is scheduled to coincide with the national group’s make-a-blanket day from noon to 5 p.m. Feb. 21. It is to take place at Zion Lutheran Parish Hall, 330 Union Ave., in Snohomish.
People do not need to know how to sew to help. There is other work, such as cutting, ironing and pinning, to be done. For more information, call Campbell at 425-252-4524 or send an email to snohomishcolinus@aol.com.
“You can do as much or as little as you want, depending on the time you have. If you do one blanket, that helps one child,” Campbell said. “This work is just heartwarming.”
Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports.
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