Meet Jessica: The Story Behind the Mission

It began on a December night in 1999.

​But it wasn't a boardroom or a warehouse, but a nursery bathed in the glow of a nightlight and soft music. Jessica Rudolph, a mother with three children under the age of three, sat in a rocking chair. She couldn't hold all her babies at once as they drifted off to sleep, so she did the next best thing: she knitted. She knit a few rows of a blanket every night so that even as they closed their eyes, her children could see her presence. They could feel the tangible evidence of her love.

In that stillness, she noticed something profound. Each of her children had a blanket, and while each used it differently, all three used it for the exact same purpose: comfort and warmth. A question formed that would change the trajectory of thousands of lives: "Who could I give this blanket to?"

The answer didn't come from market research. It came, as Jessica describes it, from the Holy Spirit. The answer was a child in foster care.

She decided she could share the joy she got from making and giving that blanket away, so she drafted a letter to employ her friends and family to help. Sitting in her green conversion van outside the Westerville post office with 72 flyers in hand and three toddlers watching VHS tapes in the back, she prayed, "Lord, please don't let me look too foolish."

Her goal that first year was 12 blankets. She received 84.

​Today, we know My Very Own Blanket as a powerhouse that delivered more than 29,000 blankets last year alone. But the history of this organization is built on what Jessica lovingly calls "being foolish enough for God's glory."

But what might look like stubbornness to some is actually a profound, unshakeable perseverance. It is the grit required to turn a "little idea" into a global movement.

"Lord, please don't let me look too foolish."

​As she talks about the organization, she walks over to a wall of photographs, tracing the timeline of the organization with her finger. She points to a picture of the "little shop"—a modest 900-square-foot space on East Broadway in Westerville. Then, her finger moves to a photo of a massive warehouse—a 5,000-square-foot facility that represented the "growing pains" years.

As she speaks about that large warehouse, the light in her face seems to dim. It was a time of immense struggle. The space was overflowing with donated buttons, sewing machines, and unfinished quilt tops. Jessica, resourceful and eager to please, was trying to do it all. She reached a breaking point where she realized she had been serving the volunteers rather than serving the mission.

"What do we do?" she asked herself. "We give blankets to kids in foster care. That's what we do."

Newspaper clipping from 2018 with a photograph of Jessica Rudolph standing in front of a large pile of blankets.

As much as she cared for and appreciated every volunteer and every donation, she knew MVOB needed to return to the mission not of making blankets, but of giving blankets to children entering foster care. It was a pivot that required immense bravery. It meant saying "no" to unfinished projects so she could say "yes" to the children waiting for a finished gift. It wasn't always popular, and the transition was hard. But as Jessica described the moment she refocused on the mission, her face lit up again. The heaviness lifted.

For five years, the organization had chased an elusive goal of collecting 10,000 blankets, never quite reaching it. Within six months of refocusing on the mission, they smashed it.

Throughout her story, there are moments where Jessica's voice catches with emotion. She speaks not just as a founder, but as someone who understands the fragility of the human heart.

"You are seen. You are not alone."

She knows what it is to have your world shaken to its core and live in uncertainty. She understands the feeling of having the rug pulled out from under you, leaving you to question everything you thought was safe. Because she has felt that shaking, she possesses a fierce, protective empathy for children in foster care whose lives are ripped away without warning.

For Jessica, a blanket is never just fabric. For a child who has been moved from house to house, a blanket with their name on it says, "You are seen. You are not alone." It is a claim of ownership in a life where they own almost nothing.

Why does she do it? Why, after 27 years, does she still say the blankets must be free, with no paperwork required?

It comes down to one word: Love.

...One blanket at a time.

In a moment of profound vulnerability, Jessica shared the truth that drives her: "When we peel back every layer in our life... we all just want to be loved. There is no worse place in the world to be than to not feel loved."

She is determined to ensure that every child receiving a bundle from MVOB feels that love. She wants to "bring heaven to earth," one tag, one name, and one blanket at a time.

Jessica often says she can't wait to get to heaven, not for the rest, but for the stories. She believes that only then will the "whole book" be opened. Only then will we see the full ripple effect of every blanket—the lonely nights comforted, the caseworker barriers broken, the foster placements softened.

Until then, she keeps asking the question. She keeps driving the mission. And she keeps inviting us all to join her.

"When we all do a little…together we can accomplish a lot."

Before you go...

Do you want to help youth in foster care just like Jessica? Do you have quilted or yarn blankets? Order our special tags here and learn how to deliver your blankets locally.

Don't know how to sew, knit, or crochet? Order one of our fleece kits!

If you live in Central Ohio, schedule a tour of My Very Own Blanket's headquarters! Or learn more about how to get involved wherever you live.

​​Story by Mac Cordell