Blankets of Love

Labor of Love

Delivering blankets, scarves and caps and collecting toys, clothing, diapers and toiletries for those in need

March 1, 2007

By Mimi Ko Cruz


With her size 9 needles in hand, Chona Viola, a lab technician in the Student Health and Counseling Center, meticulously pulls stitches through as she knits a rust-colored shawl.

The same care goes into the crocheted squares that she and other Blankets of Love members are making. The colorful squares will be sewn together for an afghan to be given to a youngster at Olive Crest, a Santa Ana home for abused, neglected and abandoned children.

“I joined Blankets of Love two years ago because it’s a great group that makes projects that help people,” Viola said.

Besides blankets, the 30-member group makes scarves and caps and collects toys, clothing, diapers and toiletries and delivers the goods to Olive Crest four times a year, said Sue Winston, president of Blankets of Love and a staff member in the Music Department.

“Sometimes the kids’ parents are arrested and they go to Olive Crest with nothing and they use these items,” she said. “The blankets are warm and something they can keep, and making them gives us a purpose.”

The group, created seven years ago by Yvonne Felix, a retired science education office coordinator, has averaged 40 blankets a year. Anyone can join even if he or she can’t knit or crochet. Members meet on Thursdays from noon to 1 p.m. in Room 216 of the Performing Arts Building and teach each other new stitches and patterns and how to knit, purl, loop and hook.