​Last Spring, Tina Green and her colleague Shelly, Montgomery County WWK (Wendy’s Wonderful Kids) recruiters, visited our Blanket Workshop to pick out some of the larger blankets for the youth in foster care attending Camp Joy, the WWK summer camp for young people aged 12 - 17.
(Original story:  https://www.myveryownblanket.org/news/archives/04-2019)

Tina recently sent us this email that we want to share with you:  
Here are some photos of our youth enjoying the blankets during movie night!
We took pictures of our youth with the blankets they received. They loved them so much and slept with them at night.  

​Thirty-four people from Nationwide’s Property & Casualty Compliance team in five locations in Des Moines, Iowa; Scottsdale, Arizona; Brea, California; and San Antonio, Texas participated in this year’s Day of Caring. 

After the Day of Caring was over, we were glad to hear and receive the photos above  from Nationwide's Gretchen Collins, one of the day's organizers: 
"Each year the Nationwide team works to coordinate volunteer experiences for each location. It’s hard to coordinate across multiple locations, but your process made it very easy.  From blanket pickup, instruction sheets, cutting templates, and name tags, this was a smooth experience. Thank you for caring for some of the most vulnerable in our society!"

Many thanks to the Nationwide team for providing handmade blankets for children in foster care in Iowa, Arizona, California and Texas. We are thrilled that, through an expanding network of volunteers,  My Very Own Blanket can help provide love and comfort to children in foster care in places far from Central Ohio!  

Donna, pictured below, made 26 blankets while staying with her husband in the hospital after a stroke. He was hospitalized for a month. Her daughter, Mary, donated the blankets to Warren County Children Services. They hope to make more as a family in the future!

Residents of the Pines at Glenwood tied 45 blankets for National Assisted Living Week to be donated to My Very Own Blanket, which donates the blankets to children in foster care.
The residents' goal next time is 60 blankets! #GlenwoodFamily #AbundantAging
Thank you to these blanket angels!

MVOB Featured on the CityPulse Columbus Website

We were honored recently to be the Charity Spotlight on the local website, CityPulse Columbus: Your Guide to Columbus. 
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​The article about MVOB was written by Jonathan Edwards.   Read it here

Learn about Blankets & Brew

MVOB to Participate in IMPACT Columbus October 17 Event

Join My Very Own Blanket in participating in the 2019 IMPACT Columbus event on October 17.  IMPACT Columbus focuses on celebrating servant leadership in action. The purpose of this event is to inspire attendees with a local speaker who exemplifies servant leadership through their work, business, service and/or community impact.
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This year’s local speaker is Sandy Doyle-Ahern, President at EMH&T, as she engages with attendees in an interview-style keynote as well as an interactive panel including IMPACT Columbus’ Chair Jamie Richardson and Co-Chair, Michael Corey.

Sandy, Jamie and Michael will explore ways that business, nonprofits and government can leverage their strengths to lift the Columbus community!

WHEN: Thursday, October 17, 2019
TIME: 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
WHERE: The Exchange at Bridge Park
6520 Riverside Drive | Dublin, Ohio 43017

Learn more and register to attend
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We want to share with you a letter we received recently from Janeen Holmes, President/CEO of My Stuff Bags Foundation. We send some of the blankets you make to My Stuff Bags. They include a blanket in each bag that they provide to children in crisis.

Dear Jessica,
Thank you for your compassion and concern for children in crisis. Your wonderful contribution of blankets will have an immediate impact on the lives of abused, neglected and abandoned children entering crisis shelters and foster care with no belongings and little hope.
 
My Stuff Bags send a profound message to hurting children—people care. Through the generosity of donors like you, providing childhood essentials and necessary funding, My Stuff Bags Foundation can genuinely say each bag is made with many loving hands. Together, when we provide a new blanket, stuffed animal and toiletry kit, along with fun toys, books and other great stuff, we can show a sad child in transition that they deserve the dignity of new possessions. We can restore their self-esteem and demonstrate that they are indeed part of a warm, loving family, the My Stuff Bags family.
 
We are very thankful that you have chosen to join us in our mission to reach out to children who so desperately need to know that others care. My Stuff Bags are a “lifeline” that lets them know they have not been forgotten. And we in turn will not forget your generosity and kindness.
 
With gratitude,
Janeen Holmes
President/CEO

​Susan made The. Most. Adorable. sock toys for children in foster care! 
Thanks, Susan, SO MUCH for your time and creativity!! 
We’re having lots of fun matching them with blankets that feature similar animals and colors.  
​What a wonderful little extra comfort these soft critters will be for kids to snuggle with!

Sometimes good things take a little time to come together.  Here's a story connecting our Blanket Angels…

One of our Blanket Angels, Bridget, turned 90 years old in July.  This amazing woman has been making quilts for us for some time.  Bridget was asked to make quilts from some very special fabric that was given to us a couple years ago by a mother who cared for her daughter with severe medical issues. 
 
A little more than sixteen years ago Kerri was a college student, in the ROTC program, and engaged to be married. She became ill, which resulted in brain damage that made her completely dependent on others.  Her family took her home to care for her.  The doctors told her mother, Karen, that seeing holiday reminders would possibly help stimulate Kerri's brain. 
 
Kerri's Grandma, also wanting to be able to help, started making hospital gowns out of colorful fabrics for her. They were pretty and cheerful, and they matched the holidays throughout the year. There were gowns for July 4th, Easter, Halloween, Christmas, so many holidays and so many prints with vibrant colors! 
 
After 13 years of caring for her daughter, Karen and her family lost Kerri. Karen then went to work finding charities and others in need who could use Kerri’s medical equipment and supplies and, yes, the hundreds of gowns that were possibly worn for just a week as Kerri lay in her bed or sat in a chair.  Karen contacted My Very Own Blanket with the thought that making quilts out of these fabrics for children in foster care would have pleased Kerri. So she gathered up the gowns and donated them. There were over 400 gowns.
 
Bridget made several quilts out of those gowns. We saved a few for this special day when Bridget came in for us to celebrate her birthday at the blanket workshop. As a special surprise we invited Karen to also come in to see the blankets and meet Bridget.  As you can imagine, there were tears when Karen saw the quilts and met the amazing woman who made them. Bridget went around to the quilts and explained a little about her thought process for designing each quilt. As Bridget explained everything, Karen was touching the fabric and remembering each piece that Kerri wore.
 
What a special birthday celebration it was!  Happy birthday, Bridget!  And thank you Karen for sharing a little piece of Kerri with us…to pass on to children in foster care, providing them with a handmade blanket to bring them Love, Comfort & Hope.  

​Congratulations to Seth Miller on becoming an Eagle Scout, the highest rank a Scout can achieve. Among many other requirements, an Eagle Scout must plan and execute a service project that benefits a religious institution, school, or their community.

Seth chose to sponsor and organize the creation of 92 handmade blankets for My Very Own Blanket. He recruited Dublin Special Olympics participants to help make the blankets. Thank you, Seth, for your support!