Blanket charity gives comfort to foster children
With her three children drifting to sleep in their cribs and toddler bed, Jessica Hollins sat in a rocking chair in the youngsters’ shared nursery, wanting them to feel her presence.
By the glow of night lights and with soft music playing, she knitted a blanket for the little ones.
It was in that moment of serenity that Hollins (who recently remarried and is now Jessica Rudolph) had a revelation of sorts about her latest knitting project: “I thought: ‘They don’t need another blanket. Who should I make this for?’”
The answer to that question inspired her life’s work.
Rudolph’s babies are now 19, 20 and 21, and, almost two decades later, My Very Own Blanket has donated more than 100,000 handmade blankets to children in foster care nationwide.
The Dublin resident believes that God was speaking to her all those years ago, as she can’t otherwise explain why the idea of a blanket donation popped into her head.
Viewing it as a call to action, she sent a letter to relatives and friends asking for help with her newfound mission, which she originally operated out of her home but now runs from a small shop in Westerville.
During that first year, 2000, she collected 84 blankets — including six she made herself — to distribute to foster children in three counties (Delaware, Seneca and Crawford).
In 2001, she amassed 526, and the number of blankets — quilted, knitted, crocheted, no-sew fleece — has steadily increased annually, culminating last year in 10,000.
A rising need for blankets in recent years has heightened Rudolph’s passion.
“Right now, the (foster)-care system is in crisis because of the drug epidemic,” she said.
From July 2013 to October 2017, the number of children in states’ custody increased 23 percent, to 15,510 — and could reach 20,000 by 2020, according to a report by the Public Children Services Association of Ohio.
Hearing stories about court dockets full of foster-care cases and children who’ve watched their parents overdose helps to sustain Rudolph amid the challenges of keeping a volunteer-driven nonprofit afloat and relevant. (Rudolph, the sole employee of My Very Own Blanket, began drawing a salary only last year.)
And meeting people such as Nikki Chinn only intensifies her resolve.
Chinn, now 27, remembers getting to pick out a blanket from dozens available soon after she went to live in a children’s home. She was 14 when the state took custody of her, but Franklin County Children’s Services had been involved with her life for a decade because of parental abuse, neglect and drug use.
The young Chinn opted for a red-and-gray fleece blanket, she said, sleeping with it nightly.
“It was something that was mine,” said the Orient resident, who is studying to be a social worker at Columbus State Community College. “All the other blankets we used were communal blankets and were just washed and passed from room to room.”
The gift, she said, was special and comforting. “I kept that blanket for years until it went to my younger sibling in foster care.”
Rudolph quickly realized the tremendous effect that her small gesture was having on foster children.
“Sometimes, law enforcement is involved and they’re (children are) removed really quickly,” Rudolph said. “Social workers, if they do have time, it’s only 15 minutes. They told me, ’We’re just trying to find matching shoes, clothes and socks.’”
A personalized tag — featuring the names of both the blanket maker and its recipient, serves to remind children of their worth, she said.
“All of their ‘safe’ is gone, and all of their love is gone,” Rudolph said. “They can feel like they aren’t loved. It may not have been a safe love, but it was all they’ve known. We give them something to hang onto, something that can be their ‘safe.’”
Those who work directly with children in such situations say they can’t overemphasize the importance of the work that Rudolph, her core group of volunteers and all the blanket makers do.
Lisa Dickson — who was in foster care as a youth and is now the communications chairwoman for Action Ohio, which works to improve outcomes in the foster-care system — said foster children lack “family privilege.”
“I’m a stepmom, and I make handmade stuff for my children all the time,” Dickson said. “Children in foster care don’t have that. Having the physical expression and comfort of something handmade is priceless.”
Mark Mecum, chief executive officer of Ohio Children’s Alliance, said he has watched Rudolph’s organization battle hurdles such as rising shipping costs, volunteer burnout and the need for logistical changes. He was so impressed that he joined the organization’s board of trustees.
“Most businesses and nonprofits don’t exist after five years,” Mecum said. “A volunteer-driven organization of almost 19 years is almost unheard of.”
During a busy day in the Westerville shop last week, a half-dozen volunteers sewed on personalized tags, folded blankets and cut strips of fleece for the no-sew kits that the group sells. The kits, sold for $10, are increasingly popular with area businesses, schools, churches and other groups.
Jonica Graves arrived to pick up blankets to put in bags provided by My Comfy Kits, which is overseen by the local Orphan World Relief. The bags also include children’s books, night lights, pajamas and other items a child entering foster care might need.
At the same time, Pamela Braddy, activity therapy administrator at the Pickaway Correctional Institution, dropped off homemade quilts from prisoners.
My Very Own Blanket partners with several area prisons to both provide inmates with a purpose and help further its mission. It does the same, Rudolph said, with agencies that serve senior citizens or adults with developmental disabilities.
The reach of My Very Own Blanket has expanded nationwide since its humble beginnings.
To date, it has sent blankets to two dozen states and designated blanket coordinators throughout the country to do similar work in other cities.
Rudolph’s tireless effort, stemming from her love of her own children, remains as strong as ever.
“What better job to have than giving love to kids?” she said. “And what better way to do it than through a blanket?”