TexasSunshine

I don' know if this is the right place to post this question but here it is. Has anyone worked with for headed up a chapter for Project Linus or Quilts for Kids? Is there a lot of time and work involved other then the quilting? I would like to do some LA quilting for charity but there are no local chapters in my area of Northeast Texas. Anyone have any advise?

lynnie

write or call headquarters and see what's up with them and their rules and regulations.

Daylesewblessed

I was a Project Linus coordinator for a few years, and I spent about 30 hours/week doing it. Unfortunately, after becoming coordinator, I had very little time to do any quilting. In addition to administrative work, delivering blankets, setting up meetings, etc., I spent a lot of time mending and washing some of the donations that came in. However, I must say that the coordinatorship was very rewarding work, and I gained skills in non-profit leadership.

How much work there is to being a Project Linus coordinator depends on several factors. The size of the local organization and the number of volunteers makes a difference. The local chapters of Linus have very little structure and have only one person who is accountable (the coordinator). It is the coordinator's responsibility to recruit, train, and delegate work to volunteers. The more successful he/she is with that, the smoother the chapter will function and the more it will grow. With growth comes more work. There is a big difference in handling 50 blankets/month compared to 250!

I believe that projectlinus.org has a section of the website addressing interest in starting chapters.

I strongly believe in the Linus mission and continue to be a blanketeer, but I am happy to now have time to make quilts for other charities also.

ManiacQuilter2

There is always a great demand for the help of LAQs for charity quilts. I had a pile of UFOs for foster kids and a friend of mine hooked me up with a newbie LAQ. I am so delighted to be getting these quilts finished and shipped off.

TexasSunshine

Thanks for your comments. I would rather do the quilting than all the admin work. I will still look around locally through the quilt quild or elsewhere for charity work.

mirish2

I was a Linus contributor. Our cordinater auit after trying for 4 yrs to find a replacement. She said she had no time to do any quilting with all the admin work. I now just donate to local WIC program through the health department. They do not have any rules on size or theme. Most of mine are about 42" x 45". I skip the batting and use polar fleece as backing. Provides enough weight and is cuddly, also improves washability.

silliness

Our Linus group has a volunteer that is a professional long armer. Since she has a professional business, she doesn't have time to attend our weekly get togethers to sew, but we would love to have her if she ever has the chance to attend. She completes about 3-4 quilts per month for us and that is such a big relief. Thats 20 hours of time we can be working on other quilts. Further, we really appreciate how much she elevates our work. We love her!

I would still contact Linus headquarters to see if anyone else in your area is interested in starting a Chapter. You might find that there is already a coordinator for your region of the state, even though you don't have a local chapter. Our coordinator has a large district which encompasses many volunteer groups. Our group just does quilting, but other groups do crocheting and fleece blankets. Our coordinator collects blankets from all of these different groups and delivers them to 22 different organizations in the area. That is one reason that she has to work so many more hours.

In our local group, we don't really have a named leader. There is one lady who works with our group to get the quilts to the coordinator and presents us with any PL business. She doesn't put in 30 hours a week for admin stuff. She probably puts in an hour or two on most weeks and then when we have about 30-40 quilts, she will deliver them to our coordinator. Sometimes there are special events in the area that take a bit more work such as if there is a conference in town that wants to set up a PL room. That only happens maybe once a year. We have another lady who handles the weekly announcements (where the meeting will be held), list of quilts, and the email list of members. We have another lady that works with the two of them to handle everything else. Like I said, our group doesn't have named leaders, we just have several women pitching in to help everything go smoothly. I'm sure other groups are more structured, but that wouldn't work for our group.

If there is no coordinator, you could also contact other quilters in your area to see if someone else would like to be the coordinator that organizes the group.

I would hate to see you discouraged because you don't want to start the chapter. I'm willing to bet someone in your area would love to do the admin work. Remember, we also get blankets that are crocheted and fleece. So your group could be just quilters or all types of blanketeers. Your pool to recruit from is larger than you may think.

Good luck!

Annaquilts

I found a woman who makes hundreds of donation quilts for veterans and hospice. She was trying to quilt all these quilts on her domestic machine. After we met she would make the tops and put batting and backing with them while I did the LA quilting. She, together with her quilting guild, also finished the binding. She is currently taking care of her mother so things slowed down.

Then after my DD had triplets and I saw the need for NICU quilts for preemies. I got involved with that. I get help from a local friend and from online friends. http://www.quiltingboard.com/request...s-t251900.html People either send me finished quilts and or tops. Some people have also donated fabric and batting. This is important as batting, thread and fabric cost can get prohibitive very soon.

Yes, I can easily spend 30 hours a week but much of it is on the actual quilting, both on the long arm and putting the quilt together. Soon I did not have much time to do my own quilts. I am currently working on balancing the two.

Previously I signed up with multiple groups that do donation quilts but none ever contacted me to do LA quilting. Several did want to know if my LA was computerized. It is not. I do free motion hand guided quilting and have an Innova 26 in. with lightening stitch on a 12 feet frame. I am not sure if I did not get contacted because my machine is not computerized or if they just did not need more LA quilters.

For now the NICU donation quilts keep me plenty of busy. So you might consider contacting your local hospital or hospice and do something similar. Fortunately both for the veterans, hospice and NICU quilts there are no strict guidelines. This really helps in finding people to come alongside and help.

Many of the NICU donation quilt tops I finish and quilt on a regular sewing machine as they are so small. I could lay many as a group on a long arm and have it done that way too.

Please feel free to pm me.

willferg

I am the assistant coordinator for our local chapter of Project Linus, and I would be thrilled to death to meet a long arm quilter who was willing to help us out from time to time. Our members have various skill levels (and that's fine), so some quilts are quilted and some are tied and some are..some just are.

I would think you'd be able to donate your services without having to start a chapter. Have you checked the Project Linus website to see if there's a chapter near you? Plus, I think in Texas there is an offshoot called Linus Project?

I think it's great you want to help in this way!

AZ Jane

If not working with a local organization, you must also consider the shipping costs.