^04/13/2022

One Sandoval County volunteer who helps low-income and abused children by offering them a handmade blanket for comfort, is celebrating her 20th year in service.

Dottie Hu, Sandoval County Project Linus Coordinator, said she was inspired to help with this program after a group of friends explained the significance of what Project Linus does several years ago.

“I had just retired as a school teacher and saw the joy this program gave my friends, so I began volunteering,” Hu said.

Soon after joining Project Linus, Hu said she was asked by then Sandoval County Community Services Director Peggy Cody, to head up this project in Sandoval County as a way of getting seniors out of their homes.

“We had a large number of seniors join back in the early 2000s,” she said. “Now it’s hard because of Covid; many seniors are afraid to come out of their homes.”

Regardless of this stigma, Hu said she is still hopeful that more seniors will come back to volunteer.

“This is an important endeavor,” she said. “I know it’s just a blanket, but to a child in need, it represents comfort…it’s what the heart represents.”

For example, Hu said two years ago, the Sandoval County chapter of Project Linus had “Make a Blanket Day”, to aid several students at a local high school.

“We made 200 fleece blankets for these students because many of them and their friends were going through a tough time,” Hu said. “It was something because the faculty from this school sent me pictures of the kids using the blankets as a way of coping.”

Hu said she wasn’t sure how the blankets would be received since they were given to teenagers. However, she said they loved the gift and used them regularly.

Hu said she and the many volunteers at Project Linus also make blankets for organizations like the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program and have also sent a few blankets to Cuba, New Mexico, by way of Presbyterian Medical Services (PMS).

According to Hu, it usually takes a volunteer about a day to create one blanket from scratch.

“The blanket we made for the first floor of the county building took several volunteers a month to complete, but other than a special project like that it usually just takes about a day,” she said.

This is the type of thing Hu would like to see continue and in the vein of getting the word out to other volunteers, she will be hosting a luncheon soon.

“We need more seniors to help us continue this type of work,” she said. “This is why I have set up a recognition luncheon for Project Linus members to attend.”

The luncheon will be held on June 16th, 2022 at the El Zocalo Visitor’s Center in the Town of Bernalillo from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“We will have hula dancers and recognize many of our long-term members,” Hu said. “I would like this to be a call out for more volunteers to join us and help us continue this valuable work.”

For more info on how to become a volunteer for Project Linus go to: https://www.projectlinus.org/