Blanketeering Night 2015

About twenty of us turned out for the De Anza Lions’ 5th Annual Blanketeering night on March 5th. We had Lions, Leos, friends and family attend. Everyone pitched in, enjoyed an evening of warm and friendly companionship, and got some wonderful work done. There were fewer of us this year — a good number fewer, in fact — and fifteen more “pieces of fleeces” to complete so we knew we had to step it up if we were going to complete our task at hand. And we did, no problem! Blanketeers completed 63 blankets in about 2 1/2 hours and then four Blanketeers  volunteered to take the remaining twelve fleeces home to complete by the following a.m. meeting! That is the dedication I have grown to accept and expect from our Lion family. No one ever says, “no, it can’t be done”; it is always, “let’s get this done!” And it just happens. Lions serve.

Two volunteers from the San Jose Chapter of Project Linus, Barbara and Linda, joined us for the evening bringing their tools of the trade with them — scissors, tape measures, rulers, labels, instructions and stories. I know many of you still wonder what Project is or is all about.  You can go to projectlinus.org to learn what it is. Barbara told us a story, revealing what it is about. My synopsis of her story goes like this: Usually Project Linus volunteers aren’t lucky enough to hand out the blankets to the children in need of them; the head of the agency or the head nurse on the floor gets to do that job. But this volunteer was lucky and was at a site when they began giving the blankets out to the children. During that time, one wide-eyed little girl of about 5 years of age wrapped in her blanket stepped up to the Blanketeer. “Are you the Blanket Lady?” she asked. “Yes, I am,” came my reply. “I am so glad you are here. I got my blanket yesterday and I haven’t been warm and cozy for so long. Thank you.” That’s what Project Linus is all about and that is why I am proud to say that De Anza Lions love Project Linus.

~~respectfully submitted, by Lion Leslye Noone