Residents at a northern Overland Park senior living community have teamed up with a nonprofit that gives handmade blankets to kids who are in need due to illness or an emergency.
During the month of April, older adults living at Pegasus Landing of Overland Park in both the Memory Care Unit and the Independent Living Community have been working together to make these blankets through a partnership with Project Linus of Greater Kansas City.
They are making fleece tie blankets based on a pattern from Project Linus. These blankets are made when you cut strips into the edges of of fleece fabric and then tie those edges together.
Seniors will make 30+ blankets Project Linus
Amanda McNish, memory care coordinator, brought the blanket project to the residents at Pegasus Landing after seeing a post on social media from a mother who was grateful for the blanket her child had received from Project Linus while in the hospital.
McNish then reached out to the local chapter of Project Linus about making the fleece blankets, and the details fell into place from there.
“What was important to us as a community at Pegasus is that our residents are still able to give back to their local community and do something they believe in,” McNish said.
She said, all told, the residents will have made 32 blankets for Project Linus by the end of the month.
Additionally, Pegasus Landing plans to make a memory quilt from the scraps of the fleece blankets to help residents remember their contributions. Plus, the senior living community is looking at possibly doing quilts next for Project Linus.
“They just need some loving”
Residents primarily worked on the blankets throughout April on Friday afternoons during a designated crafting time.
Charlotte Kirk, a resident at Pegasus Landing, participated in the blanket making for the first time last Friday. She said she wanted to get involved with the project because it’s “for a good cause.”
“It’s something I can do,” she said, adding that she hopes to have more opportunities to work on projects for the wider community.
Kirk also said she liked that the blankets would be going to kids in need.
“[They] just need some loving, and holding on to a blanket for comfort, something that’s their own,” she said.
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